Saffroning Kerala: Part 7
By Abdul Basith, TwoCircles.net,
Meena Kandasamy is a poet, activist and writer based in Chennai. Her works on caste annihilation, linguistic identity and feminism has attracted attention in the recent years.
Meena Kandasamy spoke to TCN on the saffronising trends in Kerala.
Why do you think Sanghparivar is able to find a grip in the Kerala public sphere and their ideas getting popular without them in the forefront?
The RSS is known to work through a variety of cultural, educational and alternative fronts – so the direct presence/visibility of RSS (or the lack of it) is not a direct pointer to how deeply they have penetrated the grassroots. Especially in a multi-religious society like Kerala, I think they would find it easier to gain a hold by working subversively and more underground. Besides, for an organization like RSS it is always easy to take root in any society where there are considerable conservative tendencies among the people already.
Meena Kandasamy
How effective are these saffron elements in building up Islamophobia in the state?
Yes, the Islamophobia is very potent. I think it becomes so easy to equate Islam with everything that is unpleasant and troublesome to them, which is why I think Janmabhoomi said that I was funded by Islamic terror organizations. I visited Kerala over 5 times in the last one year, and I have witnessed these “Beware of Love Jihad” posters come up everywhere in Kochi. I think the Hindu extremists are doing a good job of cultivating Islamophobia.
Recently the saffron focus has been on campaigning like IUML with their political influence is winning undeserved benefits to minority community, your thoughts into it?
Yes, Muslim League presents a different kind of threat to them. Because it enjoys power in terms of its parliamentary/legislative representation, they cannot blame it in the same manner in which they blame other Muslim organizations. IUML is too mainstream for the RSS, so the only way in which they can drive a wedge is to comment about the benefits enjoyed by minorities.
What do you think helped the saffron growth in Kerala, lack of check by left parties, growth in Muslim organisations or any other factors?
The Left has left an intellectual and cultural vacuum in the lives of the common people and, in a highly literate society like Kerala – this space is exploited by the RSS, and fundamentalist organizations of every sort.
I am not sure I will connect the growth of Muslim organizations to growth of the RSS; although it is one of the most convincing and convenient excuses that the RSS itself would offer. I think the Left and the intellectuals of Kerala have a moral responsibility to the people – to check the regressive tendencies and to save people from returning to fundamentalist forms of religion.
How you believe the RSS modus operandi is different in Kerala from other states, on how they recruit and function?
I have not lived long enough in Kerala to answer the question. But I have lived in Mangalore–which is quite multi-religious too, and I have seen how the Hindu right-wing could wreak havoc and ruin that society and run the city like mafia.