The Kerala Story row: Appeal for interfaith co-existence in testing times

Thiruvananthapuram: The recent screening of the controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’ by the The Idukki Diocese for students of classes 10, 11, and 12 stirred a controversy in the State. Both the CPM and the Congress condemned the act dubbing it as a malicious campaign to spread religious hatred among the younger generation. 

In a conversation with Mathrubhumi.dotcom, Fr. James Panavelil, known for his 2021 whistleblowing speech on growing extremist tendencies among Kerala Christians, condemned the screening of the movie, directed by Sudipto Sen, calling it highly deplorable. 

In the backdrop of the events,a group of citizens, including activists, artists, scholars, writers, journalists and filmmakers, have jointly come up with an appeal to the people of Kerala vouching for ‘interfaith coexistence in times of misguided propaganda'.

What the appeal says 

“It is most unfortunate that a film made as part of a political propaganda and with little concern for ground facts is being screened by a certain section of Christian churches, creating fears of an impending inter community division that too on an issue dismissed by the Central Government as non-existent. The film itself is certified as Adults only (A) by the censor board and we wonder how it is being shown to students in general, as reported in the media.”

Answering a question in the Lok Sabha, the Ministry of Home Affairs categorically said on 4 February 2020, “No such Love Jihad has been reported by any of the central agencies”. They went on to add, “However, two cases from Kerala involving interfaith marriages have been investigated by the National Investigation agency” and added “The term Love Jihad is not defined under the extant laws”.

“We as concerned citizens and inheritors of generations of interfaith-co-existence deplore the issues raised in the said propaganda film and urge Keralites in general to ignore such a build up and generalisation over a sensitive community issue raised by a film on which even the courts have come down heavily regarding the facts. The Christian church, known for centuries of social outreach for the welfare of the community in general, must not fall prey to such vulgar propaganda which can upset the generations-long community balance and affect peaceful interreligious/interfaith existence.”

“We request all concerned to stop being a party to such misguided and motivated propaganda in the best interests of the community at large and allow the legal system to take care of any aberrations.”

The signatories

The appeal was jointly signed by personalities such as K P Fabian, Dr N J Kurian, M N Karassery, Arundhati Roy, Sara Joseph, O K Johny, Shashi Kumar, Dr Sakhi John, John Samuel, Tony Joseph, R Rajagopal, Dr Ummar Tharamel, Dr Azad R P, Abdul Kalam Azad Pattanam, V K Joseph, Paul Zachariah, C S Chandrika, P K Sreenivasan, V R Sudheesh, Poly Varghese, Sunny Joseph and Binu John.     

The Idukki Diocese screened the movie days after the Doordarshan aired the film nationwide during primetime. However, amidst all the mayhem, it was quite encouraging to see a large section of people in Kerala opposing the film, a testimony of the secular fabric of our State.

With the debates at its peak, in a quite reassuring gesture, the Syro-Malabar faction screened a documentary on the Manipur riots the previous day, at the Sanjopuram Church under the Archdiocese of Angamaly.