Gender inequality is widely acknowledged within Islam, where men and women are treated differently in both moderate and conservative Islamic countries. A similar practice surfaced in Kerala, triggering outrage at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), where boys were made to sit in the front rows while girls were pushed to the back and separated by a curtain.
The event, held on 15 September and organised by the Wisdom Islamic Organisation, a unit of the Mujahid group, has turned controversial after it was revealed that female students were seated behind a partition, away from their male counterparts.
According to the programme notice, the event was described as a “Campus Debate on Religion – Science – Dharmikta”. However, the discriminatory seating arrangement has provoked strong criticism, with critics calling it Talibani-style and questioning Kerala’s claims of being a progressive society with 100 per cent literacy.
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The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has lodged a complaint with the Vice-Chancellor, demanding immediate and strict action to prevent such programmes on government campuses. “These sorts of programmes spread communal poison. It is dangerous to permit them among students of government institutions. If action is delayed, our organisation will launch strong agitations,” said ABVP state joint secretary R. Aswathi.
Former Kerala State Police Chief T.P. Senkumar IPS (Retd.) also condemned the incident. “This is not Afghanistan. And yet this is the renaissance the SFI and DYFI boast of, while the CPM keeps claiming Kerala is numero uno in everything,” he remarked.
The incident has renewed concerns over attempts to “Talibanise” Kerala’s campuses under the guise of cultural or academic activities. Though organisations like Wisdom Islamic Organisation do not contest student elections, they are steadily accused of pushing an Islamic agenda among the youth while maintaining allegiance to broader Islamist movements.
College campuses in Kerala have increasingly become fertile grounds for Islamist outfits such as Campus Front of India, the student wing of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI). They have a history of spreading radical Islamic ideology, from hosting Hamas leaders to orchestrating violent attacks on lecturers and students who hold different views. There were also reports of non-Muslim girls being targeted and trapped in religious conversion rackets under the guise of cultural or educational activities.
