Kerala is well known for its excellence in the fields of universal literacy, sex-equality, population control, etc. Above all, its natural beauty and peaceful coexistence of various religious groups is the envy of the rest of the land. That is why it is known to the world as God’s own country. 

Now these attributes are under serious threat. Communism and Islamic Jihadi movements have come together to abort the age old traditions. Kerala’s 580 km unchecked coastline is a main attraction to Jihadis. For immediate monetary benefits, the Communist leadership is functioning as in the days of Quit India in 1942; they are eager to exalt and equate the notorious Islamic fanatics with Mahatma Gandhi and other national heroes who dedicated their life for communal harmony and peaceful social coexistence.

This is the general scenario of Kerala at present. Kottayam is a small town in Kerala which, since the 15th century has been a hub of religious assortment. The Hindu Raja of the time invited Christians and Muslims and allowed them to settle here. When the British came in the 19th century, they started printing, development of Malayalam prose, opening of colleges, popularization of formal education, women’s education, introduction of modern literary genres, etc in Malayalam from here.

That is why Kottayam became the seat of the earliest Malayalam journals and dailies. In 1848, the Kottayam press brought out its first Malayalam journal, Jananikshepam, and in 1887 its first newspaper, Deepika. Since then, Kottayam has maintained its predominant position as the publication hub of Kerala. It houses India’s largest circulating vernacular daily with more than 1.7 million copies. Now the control of this newspaper has fallen in to the hands of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) through a ‘love jihad’ which is the centre of this exposition.

For more than a decade, the situation of Kerala has been gradually and steadily deteriorating due to political and economic factors. The political aspect is the birth of votebanks. The Communists in the early 1950s started building votebanks. This was later copied by the Congress and all other major and minor political parties. Now it has become watchword of political culture in Kerala.

Another aspect was coalition politics, which bequeathed status and dignity to Muslim and Christian political parties in the state’s political process. And communalism acquired legitimization. In the administration, communal elements acquired a strategic position. The flow of foreign remittances strengthened the Muslim and Christian communities economically. The importance of overseas employment changed the outlook of native Christians and Muslims. They trained their young ones to acquire a well placed job outside India, which reduced the national commitment of the younger generations considerably.

Any slight change in the outlook of the international communities was immediately reflected in Kerala’s social scenario. Thus the phenomenon of globalization firstly reflected in Kerala more than any other place in India. Nuclear families, abandonment of primary production (cultivation of food crops), urbanization, introduction of luxuries of life, became popular in Kerala. Now Kerala itself has emerged as a single big metro; in the high speed globalization process, several of its people are struggling to survive and those who failed to carry on found solace in suicide. Thus Kerala became the ‘cape of suicides’ with an annual turnout of more than 12,000 lives.

The other side of Kerala’s socio-economic and political life is the acquired predominance of anti-national forces. One side is the large scale conversion of Hindus through Christian missionary activities and Jihadi enterprises. The two ventures have now become all powerful due to votebank politics of the last three decades.

The recent parliament election legitimized and exalted Islamic terrorism in the state by the two belligerent coalitions. From police to bureaucracy, all agents of governance are now functioning in accordance with the whims of these religious leaderships. Under the compliance of the political will of the state, several Pakistani sponsored terrorist groups function. LeT-like organizations have penetrated into the vital and strategic centers of social life. From Hawala money to ISI counterfeited Indian rupees are circulating without any check.

Strategic and key centres of the state are now owned by henchmen of Jihadi enterprises. On one side, Christian missionaries are peacefully discharging the Christianization process of Kerala. On the other, Islam is using the ‘four tactics’ such as ‘love jihad’ to the cult of bomb. The mysterious disappearance of teenage girls and boys from educational institutions is very common. After three or four months such boys and girls return home as wedded Muslims!

Behind these disappearances, a Jihadi auxiliary group sponsored/promoted love affairs (love jihad). Jihadi agencies are extending all types of help to Muslim boys and girls to love non-Muslims and convert them to Islam. A Hindu Nair named Pranesh, a member of a LeT team of four who masterminded a plot to assassinate the Gujarat Chief Minister, was killed in a police encounter on 15 November 2004 at Ahmedabad; he had converted to Islam and was renamed Javed and was the earliest prey to this ‘love Jihad.’

Usually parents of missing boys and girls lodge complaints with the police. Under the unseen control of religious minorities, particularly of Islamic terrorists, the police and civil administration perform as mere scarecrows. Is ‘love Jihad’ an international strategy of contemporary pan-Islamic enterprises?

It has now extended to business magnates’ homes. On 20 December 2008, Kottayam witnessed a Pakistani Indian wedlock. A newspaper magnate’s grandson went to London for higher studies, and fell in love with a Pakistani girl. The boy converted to Islam and married the girl in Pakistan. According to Indian intelligence sources, she is an agent of LeT. That is why three Central ministers, under the advice of the Intelligence Bureau, stayed away from the marriage at the last moment, when solemnized at the Orthodox Church at Kottayam.

Finally, the Government of India denied visas to the Pakistani team that was to accompany the bride. Under the influence of the newspaper magnate, visas were granted only to the family of the bride. A member of this business house represents our National Security Council Advisory Board, which could be the attraction for LeT. The godfather of this business firm was once honoured with a Padma Award by the Centre, and the newspaper magnate has a major hold over public opinion in Kerala.

Behind this marriage, LeT has marvellous designs. Now the newspaper is reluctant to publish news derogatory to Pakistan. Recently, a cartoonist who had served meritoriously for thirty years left the news paper. It is said three of his cartoons were consecutively rejected by the editorial board on grounds of lampooning Pakistan. This is attributed to the influence of the Pakistani bride. Jihadi groups run a dozen journals and dailies in Kerala. And now they have acquired control over the largest circulated Malayalam daily through a marriage alliance - a pointer to the destiny of tomorrows’ Kerala. 

Even though Central ministers from the Congress and Muslim League dodged the marriage function at the last moment, state leaders of the ruling and opposition parties graced the occasion. Com. Binoy Viswam (minister), K M Mani, Ramesh Chennithala (KPCC president), and others actively participated and courageously posed for photographs with the bride and groom. News of the marriage was published almost all Kerala newspapers, but other than Janmabhoomi, all dailies kept mum on the vital issue of LeT control of the largest circulated Malayalam daily - an amazing irony.

The marriage of two souls is natural. But its threat to our national security and peaceful coexistence is inexplicable. Once, a British lady courted the Chief Editor of a national newspaper and that totally transformed the character of the daily into an anti-Hindu and anti- national one. In Kerala, Jihadi elements are still penetrating several spheres of strategic importance.

This can be seen in the state’s criminal investigative scenario. Jihadi related criminal cases are not properly investigated. An annual Hawala transaction of 4 billion is going on smoothly. Sufia, wife of hardcore terrorist Abdul Nasser Madhani, hatched the conspiracy to hijack and put fire to Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation’s bus from busy NH 47 near Cochin, demanding the release of her husband from Coimbatore jail; but has not been booked by Kerala police so far. More than a dozen bomb blasts have taken place in northern Kerala from 2001 to 2009; two dozen Hindu youths were slaughtered in this decade for religious reasons. The police failed to investigate these incidents properly because of political interference. Behind all these incidents international Islamic Jihadi involvement is very clear. But police failed to unearth it.

Now the Pope and the Pan-Islamic enterprises are targetting India. Islam is penetrating not only through the conventional “Sword and Koran,” but through several unnoticeable channels of ordinary business of life - Islamic banking, or marriage alliances with big business houses as in the days of the monarch Akbar, or through enterprises of Foreign Direct Investment. Be careful, the enemy is at the doorstep. “Uthishtatha Jagratha”.   

[Author’s note: This article is based on the reports of Janmabhoomi daily, Kottayam, 16 & 19 March 2009] 
The author is a retired Professor of History, and lives in Trivandrum