By K C Saleem,
The ongoing controversy over a textbook of VII standard appears to have put the Muslim community in Kerala on the horns of a dilemma. The coordination committee formed in a meeting of various Muslim organizations convened by the Muslim League state president Panakkad Muhammadali Shihab Thangal recently decided to include the textbook issue in the sermons in all the mosques across the state on the first Friday of July. But the issue was raised in the Friday sermons only in a few mosques.
There are several reasons for this. The most important is that majority of the mosques are run by the Sunni factions where the Friday sermons are delivered in Arabic language which the local believers would not understand. In these mosques, the textbook issue could not be included in the Friday sermon as they usually recite from an Arabic book of sermons on Fridays. This book contains only moral issues. Besides, as the Kanthapuram group of Sunnis is against such a method of agitation, they did not include the textbook issue in the sermons in mosques.
The remaining mosques are run either by the Mujahid groups or by the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. Out of this, the Mujahid group owing allegiance to Hussain Madavoor had decided not to include the issue in Friday sermon as it would unnecessarily kick up a row over the sermons in mosques. It was mentioned only in mosques run by the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and a Mujahid faction. In some places, the issue was brought to the notice of the believers by reading a notice after the prayers as they were afraid of including this in the sermon.
Other Muslim groups have only a few mosques under them. This means that the coordination committee of Muslim organizations failed to implement their decision to use mosques for taking up the issue on Friday.
The state government has included the members of these organizations in the expert panel headed by the noted historian Dr K N Pankkar to study the issue. The government has asked the panel to submit a report within three months in addition to requesting the religious organizations to put their suggestions and petitions before the panel instead of going for a protest. This also appears to have prevented some of the organizations from mentioning the issue in the sermons on Friday.
The coordination committee is consisted of the Muslim League, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, two factions of the Nadvathul Mujahideen, the Muslim Educational Society (MES), the Muslim Service Society (MSS) and various Sunni groups including the E.K. faction Sunni group. The Sunni group owing allegiance to Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliar and the National Development Front (NDF) had kept themselves away from the coordination committee, saying that there is no need of withdrawing the textbook. The Mujahid group owing allegiance to Hussain Madavoor is also backing out slowly from the agitation.
What irritated the Nair Service Society (NSS) and the Christian organizations are the portions in the book that draw the attention of the students to the struggle against the discriminations against the lower caste Hindus (Dalits) and the Dalit Christians. This is for the first time in the history of Kerala that the Malabar rebellion in which Muslims played a pivotal role is given proper importance in the textbook. The NSS and the BJP appear to be unhappy over this. The All India Brahmins Federation has also demanded to withdraw the textbook.
In the past, the lower caste Hindus had no right to cover their breasts or to travel through the public pathways. They were denied several other rights also. The ugly side of the caste system is given in Page 19 and 20 of the textbook and probably this might have irritated the upper caste organizations. The textbook is all praise for the Channar rebellion that restored the right to the womenfolk of the lower castes to cover the breasts, the Vaikom Sathyagraha organized by the Indian National Congress that restored the freedom to walk through the common roads, the Guruvayur agitation led by K. Kelappan that paved the way for the temple entry for the lower caste Hindus and the agitation of the Prathyaksha Raksha Sabha led by Poikayil John for the rights of the Dalit Christians.
There is a news clipping in Page 17 about the burning of a person belonging to the Dalit community for taking water from a public well. There are also references about the leaders of the Malabar Rebellion like Ali Musliar and Variankunnath Kunhahammad Haji who stood for communal amity and social equality as well as on Vakkom Moulavi and Muslim Aikya Sangham (Muslim Unity Forum) that stood for religious reformation. The textbook has also given importance to the views of Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru and has cited the last words of Mangal Pandey, the hero of the first war of Indian Independence, and Peer Muhammad, the hero of Sepoy rebellion.
At the same time, there are some portions that could have been avoided. One of them is the portion in which the headmaster of the school asks the parents about the religion of the student. Though the book is aimed at imparting secular values and social equality, the political and communal agenda behind the demand for withdrawal of the textbook is turning the agitations into street battles. The student and youth wings of the Muslim League had burnt nearly 10,000 copies of the textbook in Malappuram last week, an unhealthy situation for a civilized society. Those who oppose this portion are turning a blind eye towards the portion that teaches the virtues through the religious scriptures like Mahabharata and Bible, sayings of the Prophet Muhammad and Guru Nanak.
It is an irony that these Muslim organizations are virtually helping those in the forefront of the agitation like the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Congress, a section of the Muslim and Christian organizations, the BJP and the Nair Service Society (NSS). The political parties and forward communities will have their own reasons.
But what is the rationale behind the protests for the Muslim organizations? This is the question the parents ask. The real question is how far the Muslim organizations can stick to their unwise decision against the state government on a non-issue.
Controversial portion in the chapter “Jeevan without Religion”
The incident takes place in the room of the headmaster where parents take their child for admission.
Headmaster: What is your name?
Child : Jeevan
Headmaster : What is your father’s name?
Child: Anvar Rasheed
Headmaster: What is your mother’s name?
Child: Lakshmi Devi
Headmaster (to parents): What I should enter as child’s religion?
Parents: Leave it blank.
Headmaster: caste?
Parents: Leave that also blank.
Headmaster: What happens if he wants a religion when he becomes an adult?
Parents: Let him choose the religion he wants.