Hate Against Minorities Behind Kerala Lynching

The lynching of Ram Narayan Baghel, a dalit migrant worker from Chhattisgarh in Palakkad in Kerala last week, is a pointer to the seepage of politics of hate across the Vindhya range, a dangerous trend people of the region have to be cautious against. Baghel was in Kerala for hardly a week, having come there in search of work. That his brother has been working there for some time was a reason why the 31-year-old with a wife and two children chose to go to Kerala. New to the place and with no knowledge of Malayalam, the local language, he lost his way and wandered around the village Attapallam near the border.

A group of people, some with criminal antecedents, formed a kangaroo court and put him on trial, asking if he was a Bangladeshi. They tortured him for hours on end and left him there brutalised. The residents alerted the police who took him to hospital where he died. The doctor who conducted the post-mortem said there was no part in his body that did not sustain an injury.

The state government appears to have taken the gruesome incident with the seriousness it deserved. The crime branch of the state police is investigating the case and has arrested five persons. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the incident unequivocally and said the government will do everything possible to ensure that the stringent punishment is meted out to the culprits. The state cabinet will soon decide on the compensation to the family of the guest worker.

That most of those who were arrested are alleged to have links with the RSS and were accused in past instances of assaults on CPI(M) workers in the region cannot be lost sight of. The right wing forces in the country find protectors and benefactors in the ruling dispensation at the centre and are now rearing their ugly heads in a state which holds an impeccable record of social harmony throughout its history. Kerala has resisted the advances of such forces all these years. Even leaders of the BJP in Kerala have been careful of this past while presenting their politics before the people. But it appears that the spread of hate has transcended them, too.

If the foundational principle of India is its diversity, then Kerala is qualified to best represent it. It has followers of every religion on earth, in varying proportions, thanks to the welcoming policy it has followed for hundreds of years. Kerala has assiduously followed the principle in modern days too: the state with an estimated population of 3.5 crores hosts about 25 lakh migrant workers from across the country. Some of them belong to their second generation, having been born, educated and employed in the state.

It is a paradox that at least a section of the people of the state comprising those who have been to many continents and countries is questioning a migrant worker about his status. The question whether Baghel was a Bangladeshi is not an accidental one; it has its roots in the hate campaign that has been running in the state against the followers of Islam. That the religion arrived in the state some 14 centuries ago and its followers have lived there in perfect harmony with others does not stop the hate-mongers from targeting them.

It is time Kerala woke up from being complacent about its history and culture, and recognised the fact that what values the state has held dear are now under attack from right wing forces. Civilisational progress is not on auto-pilot mode anywhere in the world; it must be defended, protected, endured and nurtured with much effort. For now, the state must compensate the family of Baghel adequately and ensure proper investigation in the case.