O V Vijayan’s statue vandalised by Talibanic Jihadi’s in Mallappuram

The statue was installed after strong opposition from the Muslim League which is a major coalition partner in the ruling congress led UDF.

This incident draws parallel to the destruction of statue of Bamian Budha in Afghanistan by Talibanic religious extremism. It has attracted strong protests from the progressive sections of the society.

This is not the first incident of this kind in the Muslim majority Malappuram district. Few years ago muslim extremist elements prevented the erection of statue of Thunchanth Ramanujan Ezhuthachan who is called the father of modern Malayalam language in his home town,Tirur. These extremists claim that installing statues are against the tenets of their religious beliefs.

This attack on the statue of OV Vijayan is an extremist act on their part when they failed to prevent the installation using muscle tactics and strong influence using government machinery.

O V Vijayan was a reputed novelist and thinker whose novel ‘Khasakkinte Ithihasangal’ (The legend of Khasakh) was an all time best seller.The novel set off a great literary revolution in terms of its form and content and it separated Malayalam literature into Pre-Khasak and post-Khasak. The place Khasak and the characters in the novel are elevated to legendary status and the place draws many tourists now.