At India Today’s Conclave South, Hindu activist Rahul Easwar said that Islamist radicalism should be combated without Islamophobia and that the number 32,000 in the movie “The Kerala Story” is exaggerated, whereas three is a true number.
Adah Sharma and Sudipto Sen’s film from earlier claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala converted to Islam and were enlisted by the terrorist organisation Islamic State. Later, it was adjusted to three.
“Yes, we do have a problem. The problem is Islamist radicalism. But we need to fight it without Islamophobia. In The Kerala Story, 32,000 is inflated but three is a reality. Not only three, 100+ is a reality. I believe we have to see it in a balanced way,” Rahul Easwar said while addressing a session on the topic ‘Youth and Politics’.
Rahul Easwar continued by claiming that three incidences of forced conversion to a different religion and subsequent recruitment to the IS actually occurred.
“Their names are Nimisha Fathima, Sonia Sebastian and Mariyam. But the unfortunate thing in Kerala is when you have Left and Right, nobody can have a centrist space. The truth is three is right, 32,000 is wrong,” he stated.
The Kerala Story is a post-truth movie, according to Chintha Jerome, a member of the CPM state council, who said as much at the Conclave.
Chintha said, “Kerala, the smallest state in the South, stands as a model. It is not competing with other states, it is competing with developing countries. The name of the movie The Kerala Story is problematic. This is not the real Kerala story.”
“The PM is advocating this film. They [the BJP] are doing a lot of things to demolish the success of Kerala or the Kerala model. The Kerala Story has a pre-planned agenda to destroy secularism in the state, to generate hatred. This film is against a particular community. They are creating the ‘other’ in Kerala. Kerala’s culture is secularism and the Kerala Story is a post-truth film,” the CPM leader said.
However, activist Fathima Thahiliya refuses to admit that there have been instances of forced conversions in Kerala.
“There were no cases. There is no forceful conversion of religion in Kerala,” Fathima said on ‘The Kerala Story’.
Chintha Jerome brought up the complexity of the term “youth” when she opened the conversation on the subject of “Youth and Politics.”
“A young man at the age of 20 can be old and a man at the age of 90 can act as a young leader. Youthfulness is a mental status. Karl Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto when Marx was 30 and Engels was 28. Che Guvera led the Cuban revolution along with Fidal at the age of 30. Mahatma Gandhi, RabindranathTagore, Swami Vivekanda came to the social sphere at the age of 30,” she said.
Rahul Easwar brought up the Sabarimala demonstrations when discussing the significance of youth in politics.
He said, “After the Sabarimala verdict, no political party supporters us. But devotees, young leaders and others came together in agitation. In the end, we know victory will be ours.”
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