Perilous times for Hindus in Malappuram

While I was driving down from Guruvayoor on August 15 during my recent visit to India, I had a rare glimpse into a burgeoning trend sweeping all across the small towns in and around Malapuram District. India‘s territorial integrity and threat to her national security  received scant mention during a fiery sermon I chanced to listen to being delivered in front of a mosque by a maulvi. The throng which milled about the mosque listened to in rapt attention as the Maulvi held forth on the abysmal plight of Muslims in India today. All kinds of invisible and imaginary foes bore the brunt of his harangue but the central focus of his ire was directed towards the current Indian dispensation whom he accused of neglecting the welfare of his community. Rarely did he mention the subsidy doled out by the Indian Government to Haj pilgrims and the carte blanche given by the Home ministry  to the influx of foreign funds to build mosques and madrassas.

The crowd resembled young talibs in the making if one could go by their attire and physical appearance- suddenly I felt a twinge inside and was enveloped with a surreal sense of being transported to Baluchistan or Peshawar. It struck a discordant chord within me and even the surrounding geography  seemed incongruous to the actuality unfolding on the ground.

It is an indisputable fact that increasing number of once quaint and sleepy towns of  Kerala, especially the suburbs of Ponnani and Veliyangode are fast becoming hotbeds of  fundamentalism. There is even a local TV channel which broadcasts Saudi Wahhabbism cloaked under pious religious teaching. Most of the young Muslims, even the so called educated ones I met have willingly submitted themselves to the sway of extremism in one way or other. There is a palpable sense of a siege mentality within the community and a certain defiance towards India‘s cultural and traditional values is  arrogantly and blatantly displayed.

Properties and land are exchanged amongst the Muslim communities. Even if the price is right no one from outside the faith gets to buy land if it is held by a Non-Hindu, ala Kashmir where, Indian citizens from outside the state cannot buy land or property directly. This is a crying shame indeed. This trend is  spreading at furious pace  in  Kerala and before we know it Hindus will be economically wiped off in Malappuram district. 

The Congress Government instead of confronting these divisive issues seems to be on a mission to injure the Hindus by offering more sops to the minorities by parceling out prime properties in and around Cochin and Kottayam to Land sharks from the minority communities.  The Hindus in Kerala look like a hobbled elephant limping along without realizing its strength. The minority strategy of death by thousand cuts seems to be working pretty well, indeed. The Communists are the prime cheerleaders in this campaign to eviscerate the Hindu heritage from within.

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