Desecration of statue in Kerala is worrisome
The recent act of vandalising of a statue of OV Vijayan, renowned novelist, philosopher, journalist and cartoonist, and a grove developed in his name at a school at Kottakkal in Kerala's Muslim-majority Malappuram district, was prompted by the same intolerant attitude, cultural fascism and fanaticism seen behind the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Shari’ah-driven Taliban of Afghanistan. There is an unmistakable symbolism common to the destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas and Vijayan's statue. Vijayan, who died in 2005 at the age of 75, has always been known as a friend of Muslims, and famous as a humanist who believed in the principles of Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi. But that did not prevent the local municipal council headed by Kerala's religion-based ruling political party, the Muslim league, from refusing permission for the installation of the statue and preparation of the grove at the Government Raja's Higher Secondary School at Kottakkal where Vijayan completed his primary education. It was this official intolerance towards certain symbols that inspired the fundamentalists to vandalise the statue, though the Muslim league still claims that it was an act by anti-social elements. However, in the face of stiff Statewide protests, the municipality was forced to bury its intolerance towards the statue, for whose sculpting it had not spent a single penny. But fundamentalists guided by Talibani mentality, who destroyed the statue and vandalised the memorial grove, ensured completion of the mission the Muslim league-ruled council had set out for. The Department of Culture of the State's Congress-led UDF Government, in which the Muslim league is the second largest constituent, will now spend public money to re-sculpt the statue. In fact, fundamentalist intolerance towards statues and other symbols of cultural nationalism is nothing new in Malappuram district, which many social researchers have often feared as having the potential to become a ‘second Kashmir’.
Some years ago, efforts to install a statue of Thunchath Ezhuthachchan, revered as the father of Malayalam language and creator of the Malayalam version of Hindu epic Ramayana (Adhyatma Ramayana) at Tirur in Malappuram, his native place, were defeated by the Muslim league. The completed statue is still lying in the courtyard of the sculptor's house, open to the onslaught of the elements of nature. Sociologists are convinced that such acts are not projections merely of one section's hard tenets but also of an urge to intimidate certain other sections. Despite these disgusting displays of extremist intolerance, the hypocritical political class of Kerala is refusing to oppose the trend because of obvious reasons. But what it should keep in mind is the fact that failure to check such trends at the required hour is leading to serious problems in a society that has always been known for social harmony.