Ahead of the Assembly elections in Keralam, politicians switching from one party to another is part of the democratic freedom they exercise. However, this has turned bitter when they join the BJP, as the parties they earlier worked with begin attacking and vilifying them.
Since the last few months, Kerala has been witnessing a flow of youth joining the BJP. They are from various parties, especially the CPM, Congress and CPI. Once they join the BJP, they speak out about their bitter experiences in their former parties. It causes the worst sort of embarrassment to those parties. The most objectionable hate-mongering comes from SDPI, the political wing of the outlawed Popular Front of India (PFI), when Muslim youths join the BJP. Such a news item has been reported from Malappuram in recent days.
Several Muslim youths in Malappuram have recently joined the BJP. Recently, Vallikkunnu (Malappuram) native Riyas Kuttikkattil submitted a complaint before the Malappuram Cyber Police and Parappanangadi Police in Malappuram district. The complaint is against SDPI man Yasser Arafat, accusing him of a social media attack against Riyas after he joined the BJP. Yasser Arafat’s vilification drive is through social media. He has shared several posts in favour of several Jihadis who are in jail in connection with terrorist attacks.
Yasser Arafat has been an accused in several criminal cases. Investigation agencies had interrogated him in connection with the murder of senior RSS worker S. K. Sreenivasan, a former RSS Pracharak, who was killed on 16 April 2022 by Jihadi forces while he was busy with his work in his office.
Malappuram is a Muslim-majority district in Kerala. The district was established in 1969 by the then Chief Minister and CPM ideologue E. M. Sankaran Nambootirippad (EMS), following pressure from the Indian Union Muslim League, a constituent of the CPM-led Seven Party Front which ruled the state from 1967 to 1969. Since then, most of the MLAs from the district have belonged to the Indian Union Muslim League.
Even though the Indian Union Muslim League follows the democratic system of the country, Jihadi forces have been gaining strength in Malappuram of late. Since the PFI is banned, extremist forces operate under the banner of SDPI.
Hindu and nationalist forces always make it a point to draw the attention of the authorities whenever undesirable activities are noticed. But in Kerala, both the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) are in keen competition to grab the minority vote bank. Therefore, the Jihad forces obviously enjoy an advantage, as in many other parts of the state.
