Author: R Venugopal
Publication: The Organiser
Date: November 9, 2003
Introduction: How the Hindus of
a small fishing village in Kerala brought the Muslim hooligans and a hostile
government to their knees
The sun has just set. About two
dozen people were sitting on a beach near a temple at Marad, a small fishing
village near Kozhikode in Kerala on May 2, 2003, and enjoying their rest
after a hard day's work in the sea. About 50 Muslims came in jeeps and
trucks, armed with long knives and pounced upon the innocent Hindus. Raising
the cries of Allah ho Akbar, they began to cut them down. Taken by surprise
Hindus could not retaliate. The hooligans then retired to a nearby mosque.
Eight people were killed, and dozens were injured seriously. The marauders
then went to the mosque nearby to change their bloodstained dresses. It
is reported that they had divided into six or seven batches, and broken
into houses and looted and burned some of them. Interestingly a ninth person
also was killed but he was one among the killers-mistakenly killed in the
darkness!
It had all started thirty years
back. The Muslims had begun to trouble the Hindu fishermen of the coastal
areas of Malappuram and Kozhikode. They could not succeed much in Kozhikode
since RSS had a strong presence there. But it was different in Malappurarn,
Hindus were being practically forced out of that district beaches. Many
were murdered, and finally Hindus had to vacate their houses and take shelter
in the neighbouring northern district of Kozhikode. Now it was a free area
for the Muslims. Foreign ships were seen coming as near as possible to
the shore at night, and boats were sent to fetch arms, drugs and money
to the shore. It is sad to note that there is not a single Hindu fishermen
family in that district now.
Their next step was to take control
of the beaches of Kozhikode. They selected Marad for that purpose. There,
they were able to kill eight persons and injure more than a dozen by treachery.
But they did not take into account the strong presence of RSS in that area
and so they did not succeed in getting the Hindus succumb to them and leave
that area as was done in Malappuram. Earlier there was a riot in the month
of January 2002 when three Muslims and two Hindus were killed. But, the
immediate interference of police and local political leaders prevented
further, escalation and the village gradually settled down to normalcy.
This time there was no immediate
physical retaliation. The retaliation was of different kind. RSS' Marad
Araya (fishermen) Samajam and Hindu Aikyavedi decided to act in such a
way that there will be no more such attack on Hindu fishermen in any part
of Kerala in future.
While in Matappuram the Hindus had
to take refuge in other districts, here it was the Muslims who ran away
from the village after the killing. Even as early as Three days before
the incident, Muslim ladies had begun to go away from there telling their
neighbouring Hindus some reasons. And that showed that they actually knew
something was to happen that Friday. And soon after the incident hundreds
of other Muslims also left their homes out of fear of reprisal. Hindus
decided that enough is enough and they shall not allow those who left to
come back to their homes. And so it happened. For five months, more than
five hundred Muslims had lived away from their houses in the refugee camps
set up by Muslim League and Communists and later on supported by the State
Government (High Court had ordered that the Government should provide them
with shelter and food). The Araya women organised themselves and turned
their grief into a will and determination not to allow the Muslims to return.
The Muslim women crane back with police help, but could not stay in their
houses for more than two days. The Araya women had taken full control of
that place practically. True that their men folk could not go out for fishing
to earn their bread, but that did not deter away the women from their determination.
Seeing this Hindus from other parts of Kerala generously helped them financially.
(Muslims burnt many boats of Hindus on May 2). Though all the political
parties and cultural leaders decrying this were attitude of the Hindu women
and wanted the Muslim "refugees" to be allowed to go back to their houses,
Hindus were determined to not allow this to happen. Their argument was
that the Muslims ran away from Marad on their own after knowing that the
hooligans are coming to kill the Hindus. The Government and the police
were helpless at this situation and had to simply look on!
This is probably the first instance
of a determined resistance by Hindus against Muslim onslaught in the whole
of Kerala and perhaps in the whole of Bharat!
Finally Muslim fanaticism has come
down to its knees. A large section of Muslim leaders from other organisations
began to put pressure on Muslim League and the Government to come to terms
with Hindus and to agree to their any demand of CBI inquiry into the whole
incident instead of a judiciary inquiry. Hindus wanted to know whether
there had been any terrorist activity at Marad and whether the attackers
had received any foreign help. Muslim League leaders had staunchly opposed
this demand and said that a judicial inquiry by a first class Magistrate
would do. But when over 2000 fisherwomen from all the coastal villages
of Malabar gathered at Kozhikode accompanied by their men-folk and marched
to the Collectorate to return the paltry sum of one lakh rupees given to
each of the bereaved family, the Government and League leaders got the
right signal. The camps run by the League and the Communists began to runout
of sufficient funds. Finally the High Court, on a PIL petition, came to
their rescue by asking the Government to provide 30 rupees to each adult
refugee and 10 rupee to each child. But how long can a government spend
for such a purpose?
Finally the League and the Government
yielded to a compromise conference called by Sarvodaya leaders. An agreement
was reached wherein it was decided to continue the judicial inquiry instituted
by the Government and at the same time refer the question of conspiracy,
involvement of terrorist groups and foreign money to CBI. It may be mentioned
here that Maharashtra police and Tamil Nadu police had informed Kerala
police two months prior to the attack that terrorists from their respective
areas were moving on to Kerala, but the State government did not take it
seriously. Hence the demand of Araya Samajam for a CBI inquiry.
The firm determination of Marad
women in spite of their extreme sufferings finally yielded cent per cent
success. Not only did other parties agree to a CBI inquiry but also increased
the monitory compensation to rupees 10 lakh to bereaved families and five
lakh and three lakh to injured persons. Another important decision was
to establish a station for Coast Guards, and also a regular police station
and the health facilities.
Now the so-called refugees were
allowed to come back to their houses-but under strict vigil and supervision
of Araya women. When the family of a murder accused came to their house
surreptitiously along with others, it was immediately objected by Hindu
women and there was high tension. The resettlement had to be stopped temporarily.
As one of the speakers at the Kozhikode
Vijayadashmi function told, finally the Narasimha has sprung out of the
Hindu pillar, which was being hit at by the, fanatic Muslim Hiranyasuras
constantly. And now Prahlada in the form of RSS has taken over the situation
in their hands for the sake of future peace. Thus Marad is a lesson in
every way to the Hindu society of Bharat "resist, resist, resist all sorts
of onslaughts with determination and then you will win over your enemies".
The RSS and Hindu Aikya Vedi showed
tremendous organisational and diplomatic skill in managing the aftermath
of the holocaust of May 2. Without any physical retaliation (thus winning
the appreciation of the public at large), they concentrated on the larger
permanent issues of not allowing another Muslim riot in the fishermen villages
in Kerala. They also immediately organized the large-scale publicity cells.
Thousands of pamphlets were distributed throughout the State containing
information and photos of the killings. A CD was to be prepared shown to
swaymsevaks and sympathisers in all States. Central Ministers and leaders
were invited to console the afflicted persons. Here special mention should
be made of the names of RSS Prant Pracharak S. Sethumadhavan, Hindu Aikya
Vedi, Secretary, Rajasekharan and Suresh and Dasan of Marad Araya Samajam
for rising to an extremely tedious situation at the right time.
