The political consequences of challenging Islamist narratives in Kerala
Crimes, including murders, thefts, dacoity, rape, and destruction of properties, are here to stay. There are no countries in the world that are free from these phenomena. The number of criminal activities varies from nation to nation. But the truth is that crimes, murderers, rapists, and thieves thrive all over the world. The law enforcement agencies across the world do not hesitate to disclose the details of persons who are arrested for perpetrating crimes.
But there are strange exceptions, and the southern state of Kerala leads the nation in this “unique” process. The newspapers, 24/7 television news channels, and periodicals never publish the names of persons accused in criminal cases if they are from the minority community. To be frank, they never disclose the names of the accused if the latter happens to be a Muslim.
The chief minister, members of his council of ministers, and leaders of “secular, liberal and democratic” outfits rebuke the Hindus from all available platforms for communalism. They do not condemn the members of the Muslim or Christian communities if they commit crimes. Political leaders who dare to question the antecedents of criminals belonging to the Muslim community find themselves ostracized from the social life of Kerala.
P C George, a devout Christian, who was elected seven times successively as a member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly despite the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led UDF ganging up against him, was defeated in his attempt to win the election for a record eighth time. George’s crime? He was blunt in opening up against the love jihad in the state and elsewhere in the country. George was a leader of the Kerala Congress, the political arm of the Christians in the state. He never hesitated to open up his mind against the hypocrisy and double standard of his own political party leaders and other outfits.
To get elected from the same Assembly constituency and that too with a considerable majority in the face of opposition from the LDF and the UDF is by no means a small achievement in this state. Though he was never made a minister by the Kerala Congress, it has to be admitted that George was the best legislator the Kerala Legislative Assembly has seen. What made him a bete noire to other political parties in the state was his uncompromising stance against Islamic fundamentalists vis-à-vis love jihad, which nipped in the bud the lives of thousands of Hindu and Christian girls in the state.
He also questioned the CPI(M) and the Congress vying with one another in appeasing the minority Muslim community, overlooking the realities faced by the Christians in the State. George was equally blunt in praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the development agenda in sectors like infrastructure, health, education, and job creation. This antagonized the Muslims, Marxists, and a section of the bishops who sing hosanna to the Islamic clerics. The result? All religious fundamentalists and extremists ganged up and ensured his defeat in the 2021 Assembly election.
Former chief minister V S Achuthanandan, who breathed his last in July 2025 at the ripe age of 102, was another political leader who earned the wrath of the Muslim community for the crime of speaking his mind. Achuthanandan, while addressing a press meet at New Delhi in his capacity as chief minister, lambasted the Islamic extremists for Love Jihad and also for the uncontrolled and unchecked increase in population of the state. He was highly critical of the aversion of the Islamic society towards the two-child norm set by the government. “Their intentions are clear as they want to Islamize the State of Kerala,” said VS in 2010, and this was reported across the country. He was the only non-BJP leader who came out in the open against the Popular Front of India (an Islamic terrorist organization) for cutting off the hand of Prof T J Joseph in 2010, in retaliation for “insulting” the memories of Prophet Mohammed.[1]
Achuthanandan, who led the LDF in the 2011 Assembly election, could not retain power, and the CPI(M)-led front lost by a whisker to the Congress-led UDF. Despite the LDF getting voted out, VS remained the numero uno leader of Kerala politics as he took up all issues concerning the common man. The CPI(M) ousted him from the party’s apex decision-making body, the politburo.
Though it was due to the wide popularity enjoyed by VS, which helped the LDF to regain power in the 2016 Assembly election, Pinarayi Vijayan walked away with the chair of the chief minister. Interestingly, hoardings featuring larger-than-life-size photographs of Achuthanandan greeted the people from the northern end of Kerala to the southern tip of the State; the pictures of Pinarayi Vijayan were conspicuous by their absence. VS won the match, but Vijayan took away the trophy-that was how the people of Kerala felt when Sitaram Yechury, the then CPI(M) secretary, declared in a press meet that Vijayan would be the chief minister.
What was the reason for ousting Achuthanandan from the politbureau and denying him the chief minister’s gaddi for a second time? The resentment against him from the Islamists, whose evil designs were exposed by VS! He even went to the extent of welcoming a verdict by the Kerala High Court that love jihad was galore in the state. The CPI(M) leadership that included Yechury, Vijayan, State Secretary Balakrishnan, former party boss Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, and the proprietor of a Chennai-based English newspaper who does not have any aversion to bending backwards to appease the Muslim community, saw to it that VS was kept away from the corridors of power. No need to explain further that VS spoke his mind and paid the price for it.
The results of the 2004 Lok Sabha election saw the ouster of Congress strongman A K Antony from the post of the chief minister. Why Antony was removed as chief minister remains a mystery to ordinary people of the State. But it was the fallout of a wordy duel between him and the Muslim League chieftain P K Kunhalikutty that ensured that Antony was dispatched to his Waterloo. The reason for ousting Antony from Kerala has a lot to do with the slaughter of eight Hindus in the Marad fishing village in Kozhikode district. The Hindu fishermen were about to set out on a fishing trip in the Arabian Sea when a group of Islamic terrorists attacked them and slaughtered all the members of the fishers’ team. This happened on 2nd May 2003, and a mosque was the epicenter of the attack. The Hindus were not content with the probe by the State Police; various Hindu outfits demanded a CBI probe into the massacre. But the Muslim League was vehemently opposed to any investigation by the CBI. This led to a free-for-all between Antony and other “secular” leaders.
When the demand for a CBI probe into the Marad massacre became louder and louder, the Muslim League leadership wanted the Antony-led Government to reject the same outrightly. Antony wanted a CBI probe, while Kunhalikutty, the industries minister of Kerala, who was a prominent face of the Muslim League, said no. The liaison committee meeting of the UDF held at a resort in Kovalam ended up in name-calling and rebukes. The future of Antony’s government was sealed on that day, and within weeks, the chief minister submitted his resignation and boarded the flight to Delhi to meet his signora. The Muslim League leaders told the madam at 10 Janpath that Antony has to go as the latter has become a persona non grata for the Muslims in the state.
Whoever criticizes the Muslim community vis-à-vis the Uniform Civil Code, Sharia, Triple Talaq, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), ends up on the hit list of the Muslim League and Islamic outfits like Popular Front of India, SDPI, Samastha, and Jamaat-e-Islami. Fazal Gafoor, president of the Muslim Educational Society, who masquerades as an educationist during the day and dons the role of an Islamic extremist after dusk, keeps track of how media persons handle news related to the Muslim community. “We have good friends in the Malayalam and English media. But this man Arnab Goswami is a dirty chap. Keep an eye on him,” Gafoor told a gathering of Muslim leaders, the video of which went viral.
Next to earn the wrath of Muslim fundamentalists was Joseph Kallarangatt, the Bishop of Pala, who spoke out against love jihad in the state and expressed concerns over the disappearance of many girls belonging to the community. Joseph Kallarangatt went one step further and said that Narcotics Jihad was swallowing girls in Kerala. This statement was made during a religious congregation by the bishop, who had with him the detailed statistics of the number of girls admitted to the deaddiction centers managed by the Church[2]. The Pinarayi Vijayan-led government filed criminal cases against Joseph Kallarangatt, accusing him of attempting to create hatred between communities in the state.
The 2023 film The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen, which told about the love jihad picked up from real-life stories and characters, was banned “unofficially” in Kerala, while the Church leaders insisted that the laity should watch the same. Special screening of the film was held under the auspices of the Church in various places in the state.[3]
Members of various Islamic outfits make it a point to visit all theatres and multiplexes to persuade viewers not to watch movies starring Suresh Gopi, Unni Mukundan, and Shobhana because of their links with the BJP!
The CPI(M), having understood the hatred of Muslims towards the Hindus, is exploiting the situation to the hilt by tampering with and destroying the rituals associated with the temples in the state. The thefts at Sabarimala Shrine, Lord Krishna Temple at Guruvayur, and Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple are all being committed to appease the religious sentiments of the Muslims in the state.
The directive given by V Sivankutty, the education minister of the state, to the management of the Church-run St Reeta’s English Medium school at Kochi to allow Muslim girls to attend classes wearing hijab shows the extent to which the Marxists go to placate the ego of the community, which constitutes 35 percent of the voters in the state.
“The Christians in the state do not have leaders who have the charisma to take on the unjustifiable demands of the Muslims. Eighty percent of the reservations meant for minority communities have been hijacked by the Muslims thanks to their political influence. One cannot survive in Kerala politics without appeasing the Muslim community,” says P Sujathan, author and a journalist with more than four decades of experience in chronicling Kerala.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] Kerala CM reignites ‘love jihad’ theory – Jul 26, 2010, ToI
[2] Love And Narcotic Jihad Exists In Kerala, Claims Catholic Bishop – Sep 09, 2021, NDTV
[3] Kerala church screens ‘Kerala Story’ to fight ‘love jihad’ – Apr 09, 2024, ToI
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