The Saffron Siege

Inside the killing fields of Kerala

01 April 2019
After the Supreme Court struck down the ban on women entering the Sabarimala temple, the RSS organised massive and violent protests throughout Kerala.
afp / getty images
After the Supreme Court struck down the ban on women entering the Sabarimala temple, the RSS organised massive and violent protests throughout Kerala.
afp / getty images

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IT WOULD HAVE BEEN any other Thursday, had it not gone terribly wrong. On the morning of 9 July 2015, Mohammed Fahad was headed to school with his sister, Shahala, and Abdul Anas, a friend. The alley that ran from their house to the government higher-secondary school in Kalliot, a village in the Kasaragod district of north Malabar in Kerala, had for years been a venue for idle chatter, for arguments about favourite cricketers and actors, for minor fights over chocolates, books and stickers.

Fahad was eight years old. Shahala was 11. They had grown up in a working-class Muslim family with communist sympathies. Despite the growing communalisation of north Malabar over the years, they harboured no insecurities about their identity. Kalliot has a history of communal harmony between its Hindu and Muslim residents. Fahad’s family always participated in the organisation of Vayanattu Kulavam Theyyam, an annual festival celebrated by oppressed-caste Hindus in north Malabar.

Nidheesh J Villatt is a journalist and researcher based in Delhi. He has previously reported for Tehelka.

Keywords: Elections 2019 Kerala political violence Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sabarimala Pinarayi Vijayan MS Golwalkar
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