When will the political gangwars end in Kerala?
Owing to an altercation between students in a college in Kerala’s Kochi, a student activist of SFI has been stabbed to death. Kerala has a reputation of being the most mature state as far as political awareness among people is concerned. And even with that, contradiction would be, Kerala is also known for its gangwars. As a result of this, a life of a student would who have contributed to the future of the society is lost. No matter who has carried out this heinous act, it is highly condemnable. This has added another episode to the bloody history of Kerala.
And one has to be sure that this incident is not the end of it and is bound to have its undesirable repercussions, with may be another life being lost. Who knows! But this has been the way things have progressed in Kerala since ages. Most of Kerala’s history is soaked in blood. Swami Vivekananda, having witnessed casteism at its peak in Kerala, had called it an ‘asylum of lunatics’. One can see different stages of this from the Mappila uprising to Kayyur farmers agitation, the blood has flown much. The state fought both the British and the casteism (against upper castes) that had gripped its veins from within. Blood flowed like river.
Even the British didn’t exploit lower castes in Kerala like the upper caste Brahmins such as Nambooridis did. Violence was a part of any rebel in Kerala, so much so that women had to protest violently and even lose life to be able to cover the upper part of their bodies.
Narayana Guru had to build a separate temple for Ezhava community. Islam also found a stronghold in Kerala thanks to Malik Dinar. Three major ideologies changes Kerala’s topography. One was Narayana Guru’s, the other was of communism. And the exploited men and women of Kerala found respite in Islam too. Hence Islam spread rapidly in the state. All these ideologies have a strong role in the resistance people showed to the Zamindars of the state. Communism hijacked the agenda set by Narayana Guru in terms of people struggle.
However, even young muslim men have identified themselves with communism. So the inroads are kind of normal now. The islam has turned into a political force to reckon with, owing to social initiatives by the community members.
With this, casteists suffered a set back. Today, brahminical ideology has entered Kerala in a different form, that it is all set to devour the basic foundation for rationality set by Narayana Guru himself. Hindutva cannot be propagated without violence. Hence RSS has been resorting to this since long. And though this hindutva organization was successful in polarizing elsewhere in the country, it faced severe resistance in Kerala.
Sangh Parivar has been launching one sided war against rest of the country and was a force that couldn’t be arrested. But Kerala broke that confidence for RSS. Which is why the cry of ‘Kerala mein hindu khatre mein hai’ is getting louder at national level by BJP leaders.
RSS will try its best to drive fissures into the solidarity of Muslims in Kerala. Even the communists detest that because they fear the parties that come together in the name of religion may hijack the communist agenda.
Hence Communist-RSS, RSS-PFI, PFI-Communist friction is in its peak now. And reasons cannot be singled out for this. And if we observe the history, one would agree with the fact that communists have taken up a lot of people’s struggles to make themselves relevant. But, has it remained relevant in the present context is something we need to see.
Some muslim outfits are also consolidating themselves for reasons of faith and religion. All this has turned Kerala into a ground for gangwar. Students do need political awareness. But that shouldn’t cost them their future and dreams. Muslims are also part of the society that was exploited and they have all reasons to protest and consolidate when they see threat. But then again, this should not happen on the basis of violence which would finally cost everyone dear.
Muslims need to come together for progress and not blind faith. There is a dire need for some sort of a balanced narrative between Communist and Muslim outfits without benefiting the RSS and its subsidiaries. Communities should not come together for fanatic reasons.
All sorts of fanatism should be opposed and nipped in its bud. The thoughts of Narayana Guru should be revoked again Kerala. Blood to blood begets more dead bodies and nothing else. Political leaders need to understand this well and save the future of Kerala youths.
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Axar shifts focus to next IPL after KKR all but end DC's campaign
New Delhi (PTI): A beleaguered Axar Patel admitted that both his team's batters and bowlers let the side down after Delhi Capitals suffered a humiliating eight-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders, virtually ending their IPL 2026 playoff hopes, while indicating the team had already begun looking ahead to the next season.
DC endured a miserable outing at home, managing only 142/8, which Kolkata Knight Riders chased down in just 14.2 overs, powered by a blistering unbeaten 100 from Finn Allen and his destructive stand with Cameron Green (33 not out) as the visitors tore apart the bowling attack.
With just eight points from 11 matches, DC are eighth on the table, while KKR revived their playoff hopes with a resurgent run, moving to seventh with nine points from 10 outings, though their road to the knockouts still remains difficult.
"For now, we'll go back and think about the mistakes we made. After that, obviously there's still a long journey ahead and next year will come too. So we'll think about what plans we can make for next year and what approach we should take," said Axar after the match.
"Based on that, we can also look at the players sitting on the bench and decide who can be given opportunities and what changes we can make," he added, hinting at a possible major overhaul next season.
With 200-plus totals becoming the norm this season, 142 was always going to be inadequate, and Axar admitted the score was well below par while also pointing out at poor judgement shown by the spinners while defending the modest total.
"I think the runs were definitely below par and at the same time the spinners made quite a few mistakes. Looking at the way the pitch behaved, I feel the spinners did make errors.
"At the same time, we lost five wickets in two-three overs, and I think that's where the momentum slipped away from us. That's probably something we need to think about because the same thing happened against CSK...we started well, and then suddenly wickets kept falling," he added.
He admitted the solutions to the issues could be found but players need to show the right mindset and character.
"See, you can't solve it in a complicated way. So, I think it's more about applying the right mindset. Even if you lose one or two wickets, you can still spend time at the crease and play through it. I think that's what needs to be applied, when wickets are falling in clusters, you need to absorb the pressure for an over or two," opined Axar.
KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane was pleased to see a struggling Finn Allen finally rediscover his touch with the bat.
"I'm really happy for Finn Allen. He was struggling first four or five games, working really hard, but the way he batted tonight was fantastic. But I want to praise our bowlers again.
"We did well because of them. And they've been doing it so well consistently, especially those middle overs and the death overs. Our spinners, Sunil Narine, Varun (Chakravarthy) and Anukul Roy, have been fantastic," he said.
"Fielding-wise, yes, we are working really hard. Our fielding coach has been really strict with us. And that's what has been helping us. The result which you've been seeing about the catches and the ground fielding, credit goes to our fielding coach as well," he added.
