Paying the price

Bangalore

"Section 144 declared in Tirur, Tanur,Tanalur and Kalpakanchery police station areas"
"One more!. An auto driver from Iringavoor is fighting for life"
"Latest news - Three more attacks this morning. One Hindu and two Muslims. Situations becoming worse"

The above were SMS I received in a day from friends from Tirur. Since the murder of Ravi, an RSS worker last week, the town was gripped in fear and looks like its a killing field.

Five more have been stabbed and according to trust worthy field reports, most of these guys have nothing to do with religion or sects or alliances! Except for the guy murdered (he was an accussed number 3 in a murder where RSS workers, butchered a neo-muslim convert in Tirur several years back), rest of the guys became easy target for both Muslim and Hindu fundamentalist groups. Looks like none of the hardcore militants are targetted, instead the strategy seems to be to focus on those who stand on the fringes of ideologies

If not for the local names, this could be a news from an area where sectarian killings happens! This is from Malappuram District.

Welcome to the new reality of Kerala!!

A trend that started around Babri Masjid destruction in 1992, has been largely over looked. Political parties including the left busy appeasing minority and majority vote banks will take another decade or even more to understand the complexity of this vicious circle. Not restricting to politicians, I wonder what the so called cultural stalwarts like Sukumar Azhikode (who blatantly supported militant (of course masked!!) organisations like NDF) will have to say on these unfortunate incidents that is gripping various small towns of Kerala.

Signals were there for all to see. Look at these samples:

"Kerala, which is clearly becoming a sanctuary and a possible recruiting and training base for some religious fundamentalist groups with inter-State links. The activities of such groups have assumed dangerous dimensions. This is particularly true of northern Kerala, where a significant Muslim population suffers from a broad range of economic and social disabilities and the BJP, the RSS and its satellite organisations pursue an aggressive strategy of stoking communal sentiments. "

"In 1997, Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar told the Kerala Assembly that five to eight extremist groups were operating in northern Kerala and that they received funds and other forms of support from foreign countries, especially Iran and some countries in West Asia. He also said that the situation was "serious"."

Read more such reports here Concern in Kerala

On my way back from Trivandrum, I got down at around 4 am on the secluded dimly lit highway junction in Kuttippuram to go home. Similar to my Fort Cochin experience, the auto driver refused to take me in! After convincing him, he took me home only to share a hell lot of unbelievable stories that happened in Tirur area in the last one week. It definitely sounded like those scary stories we heard from friends who went through Bombay riots! According to him,"You know? Those who were dragging them through the streets were those boys whom they see daily in their neighbourhood!".

I can't imagine the situation where I will be attacked by someone just because I was born into some religion! Worse to doubt my fellow passenger or my driver just for the reason that he is a Muslim or a Hindu!

Well, this is in fact the reality!

© GP 2007