A venomous tongue in renaissance Kerala
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Sree Narayana Guru is one of the most prominent figures in the history of the Kerala renaissance. The echoes of the national revival that emerged in other parts of India at the end of the nineteenth century had its reverberations in Kerala too when it challenged the caste- and religion-based practices that prevailed in the state, including untouchability, in several ways. A new social order could not have emerged without confronting feudal social relations and the caste system that sustained them. Narayana Guru was a towering social reformer who gave inspiration and leadership to this historical transformation. The Guru, who shattered the dark fortresses of the caste system through simple philosophies that mirrored his gentle life, paved the way for a profound humanistic thought: "Whatever the religion, it suffices if a man becomes good". The movement born out of that philosophy is the SNDP, or the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam. The organisation, which took upon itself the mission of creating awareness against social evils while providing social and educational support to underprivileged communities, had Mahakavi Kumaran Asan as its first secretary. Later, Moorkoth Kumaran, T.K. Madhavan and C. Kesavan also held that position. Now for the last three decades, this great movement, which has fought against caste discrimination and striven for social justice in Kerala, has been led by Vellappally Natesan . However, for some time now, Vellappally’s statements have served to increasingly tarnish the proud history of the movement. It must be said that, quite literally, every word he utters undermines Kerala’s communal harmony and poisons it to a large extent.
Vellappally Natesan is also the Chairman of the Renaissance Protection Council, constituted by the LDF government seven years ago as a counter-measure against the massive protests staged by Sangh Parivar organizations in Kerala in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala women's entry. Vellappally, who carries the responsibility of safeguarding the Kerala renaissance, is now openly echoing the very arguments of the Sangh Parivar. It was the Prime Minister who mocked citizenship protesters at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh by saying that one could identify the protesters by their clothes. That Sangh Parivar strategy—of targeting protesters, the opposition, and adversaries with hateful speech based on their attire and language—has subsequently been heard many times from various leaders; Kerala has witnessed this as well. Vellappally is now moving forward with the same logic of hatred as the saffron brigade. Recently, he went to the extent of describing a journalist who raised questions to him as a terrorist. When other journalists present objected, he responded by saying that the journalist had earlier worked with the Muslim League’s student wing, the MSF. It is evident that Vellappally was provoked by the fact that two days earlier, during coverage of hate-driven narratives about Malappuram, he failed to answer a question posed by the same journalist, which then became major news. Yet that anger manifested itself in a manner so hateful that it outdid even the Sangh Parivar.
This is not the first instance of Vellappally making such inflammatory remarks. It is also important to note that his words repeatedly target Muslim minorities and portraying Malappuram district, where these communities form a majority, as a centre of terrorism. Speaking at a meeting in Nilambur last April, he claimed that Malappuram was a separate country and a state meant for special groups. He further stated that backward classes could not live there. And last August he told a media outlet in Alappuzha that not even a food kiosk would be allowed to open in Malappuram district during the fasting month. He has repeated this statement several times since. He also repeatedly alleges that a minority vote bank is the reason the government has denied educational institutions to his movement in Malabar. Until recently, such statements were confined to Sangh Parivar platforms and a handful of extremists from the Christian minority. When the chairman of a committee sponsored by the ruling establishment meant to protect renaissance values becomes a spokesperson for such extremist views, it represents a retreat from that renaissance, and the path it charts is extremely dangerous.
As Vellappally Natesan continues to make hate-filled statements, it is only natural to question what the Pinarayi Vijayan government and its Home Department are doing. Vellappally has now gone so far as to claim that the Muslim League’s objective is to carry out another Marad operation (where several people were killed during communal tension) in Kerala. This is an alarmingly dangerous assertion. Yet it is baffling why Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPM continue to praise Vellappally. Even while the CPI, the second-largest party in the Left front, stands against Vellappally, the dominant faction in the government and the Home Department have declared support for this venomous tongue. If anyone were to allege that a rehearsal of the LDF’s social engineering for the upcoming election is being conducted through Vellappally's statements, they could not be faulted. The SNDP leader has polluted Kerala’s social atmosphere to that extent. The government and the Home Department must put an immediate stop to this. The authorities must recognise that, beyond electoral victories and defeats, what truly matters is the unity and coexistence of a resurgent Kerala.