The writer welcomes Irom Sharmila to Kerala, a new asylum for the anti-national brigade where she received a rousing welcome from Left parties after the humiliating defeat in the Manipur Polls, and explains why she should stay there permanently
Sarath Edathil
Why just a visit? You can stay here permanently. You have fasted for more than one and a half decades for the people of Manipur and yet they did not accept your sacrifice. Though your demands were not met, you chose to abandon your protest. With a month of PM Narendra Modi coming to an understanding and a peace accord with the Naga militants, you stopped your sathyagraha. This is not because you were afraid of Modi. Nor was it due to fear of any harm, or a desire to get married. Everything was for the people of Manipur. Yet, the people of Manipur who had been victims of the cruelty by the Indian army forgot all that. It is a great thing that you could not forget all that Army cruelty. Even so, please continue to speak for those 90 Manipuris who have acknowledged you. There are only four states outside the NorthEast where you can continue to do this. Kashmir, Hyderabad, JNU and Kerala. The first three places are not so safe for you. So, welcome to Kerala!
Kerala is an apt space for you in every sense. It is here that for the first time, a foreigner entered to sow the seeds of anti-nationalism. It is this place that Swami Vivekanandan described as a madhouse. When the whole nation joined together for India’s independence, it is here that the agitation for the Turkish Caliphate was started and the heads of Hindus were chopped and dropped into wells.
This is the only place in the world where a Bandh was called when Saddam Hussein was killed in Iraq. It is from here that 22 people joined the ISIS last year. It is here that a Mosque, in which weapons were stored and locked by the Police, was forcibly opened by a Member of Parliament.
It is here that the palm of a teacher was chopped off for preparing an Exam question paper. It is here that a teacher was hacked to death in a school classroom in front of his students. It is here that we have a party which yanks babies by the feet and throws them out on the roads. It is here that we have the party which kills old women with bombs and burns young women to death. It is here that we have a democracy where the Governor is not invited to Government functions. This is the only state where a statue of the Father of its language is deliberately not allowed in the venue where the language day is celebrated. It is from here that the poisonous seeds of anti nationalism are taken to JNU and HCU. It is here that has the little girls you wanted to see; the girls who abuse the Prime Minister of the nation in the most puerile fashion.
Thus there are many things here which will attract you. So, welcome sister! Even though you worked against the Nation’s armed forces 24 hours a day, the reason I do not call you out on your anti-nationalism is only because you had been fasting for the last 15 years. So I restrict myself to this statement. The nationalists in Kerala are strong enough to bear the burden of one more anti-social. That is because we are able to see some of the blessings which you or those who have invited you cannot see. It is here that Sree Sankaracharya and Sree NarayanaGuru were born. It is here that Poonthanam and Pazhassiraja were born. It is here that the Temple Entry Proclamation and the Paliam Proclamation were made. It is here that benevolent Kings gave wealth to Gods for safekeeping. Such memories are sufficient to sustain our resistance to you and your friends.
And because you are visiting Attappadi hills, we have another thing to say. The tribal hutments of Attappadi are just a short distance from where you will be holidaying. Among these tribals, the infant mortality is 58 when the average infant mortality in Kerala is 12. In many such aspects, our Attappadi stands abreast with African nations like Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Very near to this is Valayar where those two girls who were raped to death and also Kanjikode where a woman Vimala was burned to death by goons of your political allies, used to live. So please don’t lecture us about the greatness of Kerala at least while you are staying there.
(The writer is an RSS Pracharak in Kerala)
