The demand from Prajna Pravah, an organisation affiliated to the RSS, to call the Moplah (Muslim) rebellion of 1921 a genocide has created a hornet’s nest in Kerala. But its national convenor J. Nandakumar is least bothered.
"It doesn’t make any difference. Our stand is clear and we will stick to it,” said Nandakumar to THE WEEK. “So many Hindus and Christians in north Kerala were forcefully converted and killed during the Moplah rebellion. Here was a bigger exodus than what we saw in Jammu and Kashmir. More than two lakh Christians and Hindus were thrown away from their land. This rebellion was never a freedom movement or what the Kerala government, which is also supported by the Congress, projects it to be," he said.
The Moplah rebellion, also known as the Malabar rebellion, happened during the same time that the Khilafat Movement took place in India (1919-24), which put pressure on the British regime in India to safeguard the supremacy of the Ottoman Sultanate (one of the longest-lasting dynasties in world history, created by Turkish tribes). The Moplah rebellion took place in the present-day Malappuram district of Kerala. What started as an opposition against the colonial rule in the Malabar region of the Madras Presidency soon went on to become an insurrection against the feudal system, which was back then controlled by a few Hindus appointed by the British.
Nandakumar said Prajna Pravah is going to organise events against the rebellion on September 25 and 26 in Delhi and Kerala to enforce their demands.
"So many great people including Dr B.R. Ambedkar and Annie Besant had said that the Moplah rebellion was a systematic and well-planned attack meant to eliminate Hindus. They never considered it as an Independence movement. By celebrating the centenary of the Moplah rebellion the government of Kerala is rubbing salt in the wounds of lakhs of Hindus and Christians. In fact, the state government should construct a memorial for all those who lost their lives," said Nandakumar.
Earlier, former BJP general secretary Ram Madhav had called the Moplah rebellion as the “first manifestation of the Talibani mindset” in India.
“The Kerala government, by celebrating the Moplah rebellion, was trying to conceal what had actually happened. Here was a Taliban mindset born out of certain fundamentalist radical Islamist ideology manifested in the form of the Moplah rebellion. As the media presence back then was not how it is now, the atrocities committed were not widely publicised,” Madhav had said.
Last month, a three-member committee of the Indian Council of Historical Research said the Moplah rebellion was an attempt to establish a ‘Caliphate’, while declaring that the rebellion was against Hindus.
Kerala’s sports minister V. Abdurahiman, who hails from Malappuram district, said the RSS is playing politics over the issue. “We need to look at things rationally, and not emotionally,” he said to THE WEEK.
“This was a rebellion by farmers against the British government, and not against Hindus as is being projected. The feudal lords back then were Hindus, and some Muslims may have taken advantage of the situation. But to call the entire rebellion as a communal riot is wrong,” the minister said.
