“Priyanka, the sister of Prophet Allah” was the slogan raised by workers of the Congress and the Muslim League-led UDF front for Priyanka Gandhi in the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-election held in November. They were keen that Priyanka should win with a majority of five lakh votes to show her strength in a constituency with 45 per cent Muslims. However, Priyanka won by a margin of four lakh votes despite a lower voter turnout than in the previous election. While all elections often reflect India’s democratic strength, the Wayanad by-election revealed the strength of political Islam that gripped Kerala.
Similarly, these extreme Islamic groups are working to beat the BJP in numerous seats where it has the potential to win. The most recent example is the Congress candidate’s victory with a majority of 18,000 votes in the Palakkad assembly by-election, despite widespread expectations that the BJP would win. The political party of the banned terrorist organisation PFI, the SDPI, revealed that it had worked 91 out of a total of 184 booths for the Congress. The Jamaat-e-Islami also made a similar revelation. The same groups worked for Priyanka Gandhi in Wayanad. The mission of the radical Islamic forces in Kerala is to work for the opponents close behind in the constituencies where the BJP is likely to win.
This indicates that the organised activities of political Islam, preventing the rise of Hindus, can be seen most clearly in Kerala, the laboratory of Political Islam. The Islamists have united the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M) )-led LDF against the BJP. First, Rahul and Priyanka have come to the state to get the benefit. By fielding weak opposition candidates, the CPI(M) has also become part of the radical Islamist agenda.
Kerala’s political history is marked by alternating periods of Communist and Congress governments. However, except for the BJP, the major political parties have united under the umbrella of political Islam. These organisations are associating themselves with the Wahhabi beliefs that have swept Kerala, ignoring their ideas. The latest example is a resolution introduced in Kerala’s legislative assembly opposing the Waqf Amendment Bill. The resolution was passed in October with the support of all 140 Assembly members.
Similarly, in 2019, the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The Kerala government also opposed the decision to raise the marriage age for girls from 18 to 21 years in 2023, caving in to pressure from Islamists. The same year, the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the Uniform Civil Code. The communist Congress parties were also against the decision to revoke the special status of Jammu & Kashmir. They united against the Triple Talaq and the Ram temple issue in Ayodhya. In short, the Congress party and the communist parties in Kerala have united under the anti-national ideology by consistently coming out in favour of the Islamists on various issues.
The rise of the BJP in Kerala is deeply concerning for extremist Islamists. Political Islam lacks the tolerance to acknowledge the stark reality that the BJP is strengthened by Hindu unity across caste lines. This anti-Hinduism frequently emerges as strong emotional antagonism to the BJP, nationalism, and the country itself. This is seen in the departure of Hindus from the CPI(M), which ruled for decades after garnering Hindu votes. Although the CPI(M) is presently in administration led by its leader Pinarayi Vijayan, the people abandoning the party cite that his son-in-law, Mohammed Riyaz, is running the government and radical Islamists lead the party. In Congress, too, people who are in favour of radical Islamists are now making inroads into the leadership.
The extremist Wahhabi belief is still prevalent in Kerala today. It influences Hindus as well as Christians. It is indoctrinated in others by sociocultural means such as food, movies, clothing, language, marriage, friendship, and education. Extreme Islamists now control political parties and, as a result, the whole governing system. Madrassas are a major focus of Wahhabi ideology dissemination in Kerala. A 2018 study by India Today on the activities of Kerala’s madrassas revealed that radical Islamic Wahhabism, which is linked to global terrorism, is being preached in the madrassas. Extremist ideology is being introduced into Muslim students under the cover of hawala financing from Gulf nations, particularly Saudi Arabia. As a result, many young Muslim minds in the state are engaged in love jihad and join terrorist outfits abroad.
In 2024, the BJP gained the Lok Sabha seat in Thrissur by defeating Kerala’s two main political fronts, the LDF and the UDF and the anti-BJP narratives which political Islam controls via the media, Gulf money, human resources, and so forth. In addition, In the by-elections in November, the BJP was also able to put a strong dent in the communist -Congress fronts. The next Kerala assembly elections will be held in 2026 and panchayat local body elections in 2025. However, unlike in the past, the BJP’s true adversary in the state is the Islamic forces along with the traditional political parties. However, there are number of parties have dissent to the policies of Congress and CPI(M). Therefore, BJP must adopt a clear strategy to break the age old alliances and narratives in Kerala.
