The Kerala government on Tuesday, January 10, ordered a probe into the alleged depiction of Muslims as extremists in a cultural programme staged during the inauguration of the recent state school youth festival in Kozhikode. The development comes after the issue snowballed into a political controversy with opposition Congress demanding an apology from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
General Education Minister V Sivankutty instructed the Director of the Public Instructions (DPI) to probe the matter and submit a report in this regard in a week. Making it clear that the controversial portion of the 'welcome song' was contrary to the proclaimed stand of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, he said the matter to exclude MATHA Perambra, a performance group which presented the programme, from subsequent events of the Educational Department is under consideration.
The programme organised on January 3 during the inaugural ceremony of the five-day event in Kozhikode, landed in trouble after a section of people alleged that it portrayed the Muslim community as extremists.
While CPI(M) reiterated that the party and its government would never take a stand against any particular religious community or faith, the Congress said the Left government and the Chief Minister should bear moral responsibility towards the event conducted as part of the state-run youth festival.
Tourism Minister P A Mohammed Riyas had also said there were attempts in the country to portray a particular community as extremists and the alleged association, if any, of the person in charge of that particular programme with the Sangh Parivar needs to be investigated.
As the issue continues to draw criticism from various quarters, the Marxist party's district unit in Kozhikode said they were viewing the matter seriously. "The depiction of a man in a Muslim outfit, as an extremist in the programme, was contrary to the proclaimed stand and approach upheld by the LDF government and the Kerala society," CPI(M)'s Kozhikode district secretariat said in a statement. It also urged the government to examine the matter and take necessary action.
CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan asserted that the Marxist party and its government would never take a stand against any particular community or faith and if anyone takes an approach contrary to this, then it would be examined.
However, the opposition Congress came down on the CPI(M)-led government on the matter and sought an apology from Pinarayi Vijayan to the minority community in the state.
Senior Congress leader and MP K Muraleedharan alleged that the Education Minister was present at the festival and the Tourism Minister had given a lead to everything.
"So, how such a depiction happened during the cultural event held during the festival, conducted by the government? The government and the CM have the moral responsibility in it," he said.
The Chief Minister should apologise to the minority community in the state and that is the Congress' stand on the issue, the leader added.
Coming down heavily on the Pinarayi government over the issue, BJP state chief K Surendran said its decision to ban the performance group from further such events was a "surrender to religious extremists".
A group of artists are being banned by the Left government which always waxes eloquent about the freedom of expression but unfortunately writers and intellectuals were not ready to question this, he said. "Kerala is fast heading towards Communist-Talibanism," Surendran further charged.
However, Perambra-based MATHA, a well-known performance group which performed the cultural programme, rejected the charges and said the alleged depiction of a person as extremist with Muslim outfit was not "intentional" and they have no connection with any particular political party or ideology.
Kanakadas, an office-bearer of the group, claimed that it was Tourism Minister Riyas who had first congratulated them after the event. "We welcome artists cutting across their religion, caste or political affiliations," he told the media while explaining their stand.
Asked about the controversial depiction in the event, he said it was a mistake by a person who was not a regular artist of the group. "That was not done intentionally. When he was asked to appear on the stage suddenly, he somehow came up with a cloth on his head...that has become an issue now," he said.
The man had worn the particular cloth on his head following instruction not to come in plain costume. Though the matter had died down, someone deliberately raked it up again with ulterior motives, he added.
The controversial musical programme was performed after the inauguration of the state school youth festival last week. It depicted the Indian Army apprehending a man sporting a Keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headgear worn by men.
Sources claimed that when the dance was performed before the screening committee, it was done without the costume.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) had condemned the depiction of the minority community in bad light during the musical programme.