The upcoming film ‘The Kerala Story’ which is based on the real-life victims who landed up to forced religious conversion and the terrorist organisation ISIS is making quite a buzz. The ruling CPM party is likely to initiate legal action against the film and the whole opposition including Congress is demanding a total boycott.
The director of the film Sudipto Das has earlier made a film on ‘Love Jihad’. ‘In the Name of Love — Melancholy of God’s Own Country’, is the name of the film and novel. His film faced a boycott back in 2018 as well.
Let us take you to the time when the former Chief Minister of the state, VS Achuthanandan raised alarming questions on the communal problems of the State.
In one of his interviews from 2010, VS Achuthanandan said, “They (the ruling party) want to turn Kerala into a Muslim-majority state in 20 years. They are using money and other inducements to convert people to Islam. They even marry women from outside their community in order to increase the Muslim population.”
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, he said that Muslim fundamentalists in the State were trying to increase their clout by encouraging conversions. For achieving that goal, he alleged that the outfit were pumping money to attract youth and give them weapons. “They also persuade them to marry Hindu girls,” Achuthanandan said.
In short, he was referring to ‘Love Jihad’.
The governing party and the Muslim organisations with the United Democratic Front (UDF) members raised protests against his biased statement and called the veteran Marxist a Hindutva preacher. He said, “I was speaking of the Muslim extremist groups in the state and not the Muslim community in general. My information is from the various documents seized from the premises of those arrested in connection with terror incidents in the state,” he said.”
The next day, even Pinarayi Vijayan, the CPI(M) state secretary, stepped out to defend his arch-rival and said “The reaction to VS’s comments proves the nexus between the militants and the UDF”.
Well, the trafficking of non-muslim girls to Gulf countries for conversion and their association with terrorist organisations has been going on for a long time in the state. With the government’s support organisations like PFI, Jama’at-e-Islami Hind (JIH) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are fostering in the state.
As per an India Today report, the PFI was born of the NDF that was founded in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition. In 2006, the NDF joined hands with two organisations in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to form a South Indian Council. Last year the NDF organised a national political conference in Kozhikode where it was renamed as the PFI. Five other new organisations in different states were also formed there. In a short time, the PFI has formed about 20 separate wings-for women, children, students, imams, lawyers, doctors, journalists, etc, besides scores of Islamic education centres, even for converts.
Organisations like Therbiyathul Islam Sabha in Kozhikode, Markazul Hidaya, or the Sathya Sarani Trust are openly converted young non-Muslim women to Islam.
Banning the PFI has only ended the open conversion factories, they are now working underground. Organisations like the Social Democratic Party of India are still in force as if they have no links to the PFI.
Then there are advertisements and music videos like the recent one which promoted the love Jihad. The boy in this viral video was seen removing the bindi (tilak) from the forehead of a Hindu woman, forcing her to wear a Hijab as a symbol of conversion.
Films like ‘The Kerala Story’ are exposing the very factory of conversion and illegal terror operations active on the behest of organisations like PFI. There can be a ban on the organisation but not their illegal work.
The Kerala Story shows how 32,000 non-muslim women were forced to convert and then landed up being ISIS agents in the state. The rising conversion activities are still active in the State with support of governments.
The government is trying to ban the release of the film and this shows how badly the ruling party is involved with the conversion mafia and terror organisations active in the state.
As per a report published in Times of India in 2016, more than 6,000 people converted to Islam in Kerala. According to an intelligence report submitted to the state police chief seven months ago, and accessed by TOI, two ‘recognised’ religious conversion centres in Kozhikode and Malappuram converted as many as 5,793 people to Islam between 2011 to 2015”.
The report states that almost half of those who converted to Islam are women and that the majority of these women (76 per cent) are below 35 years. Of those converted, 4,719 were Hindus and the remaining 1,074 were Christians. As per a 2017 report by India Today, shows how PFI converted innocent Hindus to Islam and how they offered mony to convertees.
In 2011, Kerala got a Congress Government headed by Oommen Chandi. Next year on June 25, a scintillating report was placed on the floor of the Kerala Assembly. According to it, since 2005 on average, 2,800-3,200 girls are being converted to Islam every year. (The number of girls converted in the last 10 years could be a staggering 30,000 and more. After conversion, most of them go untraceable, and are sent to Afghanistan and Middle-Eastern war zones controlled by the Taliban, ISIS and Al-Qaeda).
