The Kerala Story | True or Fake? | explain by Dhruv Rathee
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| The Kerala Story | True or Fake? |
Hello friends!
Recently a film called The Kerala Story was released, which is being talked about a lot. In this film, it is shown howa secret plot is underway in Kerala, to forcefully convert innocent women to Islamand then they are being sent to ISIS.
According to this film and the director of this film,this has been done to approximately 32,000 girls, who are now buried in the deserts of Syria and Yemen. What is the real story behind this? How much truth is in it?
Come, let's try to find out in this blogs post.
"The Kerala Story" 32,000 girls like mewere forced to convertand now they're buried in the deserts of Syria and Yemen. About 100 years ago, Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany, wrote a bookcalled Mein Kampf. In this book, he talked abouta propaganda technique called Big Lie.Hitler said that to manipulate people, you need to lie so outrageously tomake people think that no one can make up such an outrageous lie. To make them think that there must be some truth in it. When an outrageous lie is told with so much confidence, some people believe it to be true. People think that no one can lie so much.
Additionally, another propaganda technique as told by Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels said that repetition is also very important here. Keep repeating this big lie again and again. Repeat this big lie so many times thatpeople get to hear the same lie from 4 different sources. By doing this, people become more convinced. A third technique is said to be the Half-Truth. Sometimes, add in some element of truth in your speeches. Because, nowadays, some people can easily identify big liars. When someone says that no one can lie so outrageously all the time, someone might counter that by showing that the speaker is a total fraud. Someone who might've been an Olympic champion had lying been an Olympic sport. For those who are not convinced by the big lies,half truth is supposed to convince them.
Why am I
telling you all these propaganda techniques?
Because in this video you'll see,how these 3 techniques have been used to mislead people. “The Kerala Story” film's director Sudipto Sen was askedwhich true incidents inspired this film. He said many things here. First, he said that in 2010, Kerala's former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, he gave a statement in Kerala's Assembly. You can Google this statementand you will see a report from “India Today”. 2,500 women, Islam, Kerala, Oommen Chandy, seems right.
Then it was said that another former Chief Minister of Kerala, V.S. Achuthanandan had once said thatKerala is going to become an Islamic state in the next 20 years. If you search this on Googleand you see this video on YouTube or Twitter. You think, oh, this is also right. Then in the teaser of the film, it is shown thata girl says that she is Fatimaand that she is imprisoned in Afghanistan's jail. You search this on Googleand you see a news article from The Hindu.Fatima, Afghanistan's jail, Islamic State. Was that right too? Friends, these were some good examplesof half-truth.Most people skim through the headlines, and don't go into detail. Let's talk about the first article.This article was published in India Today in 2012. Kerala's former Chief Minister Oommen Chandyinformed the state legislaturethat between 2006 to 2012, 2,667 women converted to Islam.
Approximately 2,500 women in 6 years. But the thing to note isdid he ever use the term 'forced conversions'? He said that they will not allow any forced conversions in their stateand neither will they tolerate hate campaigns against Muslimswith accusations of Love Jihad. Was it mentioned anywherethat these converted women were joining ISIS? Not at all.Let's see the second citation. The interview of the former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan.He was the Chief Minister of Kerala from 2006 to 2011. The video that is being circulated, from back then, was uploaded by Sunshine Pictures.
The same company which made this film. First of all, they messed with the English subtitles. The words that are being said by himand the subtitles that appear here, are not the same.
Secondly, here V.S. Achuthanandan was strongly criticizing PFI saying thatthe PFI was trying to influence the youth of other religionsby paying them to marry Muslim women. ISIS is not mentioned here either. Secondly, it's been 13 years since this statement. Kerala as a state is still as safe and secularas it was 13 years ago. Now let's see the next article from June 2021. This article talks about 4 women from Keralawho went to Afghanistan with their husbandsto join the Islamic State of Khorasan Province between 2016 and 2018.
Their husbands were killed in various attacks. Their names are Nimisha alias Fathima Isa,Sonia Sebastian alias Ayisha, Merrin Jacob alias Mariyam, and Reffeala. If you look at NIA's list from 2016 of the 20 most wanted Indians in Islamic State you will see the names of these 4 women here. Additionally, there are 2 more women. “Ajmala and Shamasia.” Their husbands were cousins.
You can see the photos of the husbands of these 6 women here. 3 of these 6 women were already Muslims. 2 converted to Islam from Christianity. And 1 converted to Islam from Hinduism. So, only one of these women was originally Hindu. Her name was Nimisha Nair. Was Nimisha Nair trapped by a Muslim man in a case of love jihad? To find out the answer, let's seewho is Nimisha's husband. Eeza.
Eeza is a man who converted to Islam from Christianity. His old name was Bexon Vincent.Bexon's brother, Bestin, also converted to Islam from Christianity. And he too was the husband of one of these 4 women. So, both the brothers and their wiveswere all converts and brainwashed. Recently, the Indian government denied these four women permission to get back to India. You can watch the video interviews of three of these womenof Nimisha, Sonia Sebastian and Reffealaon YouTube onlineon the YouTube channel Strat News Global.
They gave an interview in 2020. And there you can see how these women looked, how they talked and their behaviour. When there was a caliphate, when I was there I was happy there. I can never say that Khilafa (caliphate) was wrong. That it was wrong.I can't say that becauseI had a comfortable life here."Anyone watching this video can seehow brainwashed and radicalized these women still are. But the main character of the film The Kerala Storyconstantly tries to evoke sympathy. The helplessness and innocence shown in the filmthere's perhaps not even a glimpse of it in the videos of real life,I want to ask you, will you have sympathy for these real life women? Or will you call them brainwashed idiots? Would you want them to remain in Afghanistan's jailor would you want the Indian government to bring them back to Indiaonly to put them in Indian jail? I leave this question to you. Comment below with your opinion.Strategic News Global Report tells us thatthe 20 people mentioned in the 2016 NIA chargesheetwere very interconnected with each otherwhen it comes to radicalization.17 of them came from a single district.From Kasaragod district in Kerala.
A 2020 report from the Hindustan Times stated that some more people joined laterso in total, there were 22 people from Kasaragod. This article in India Today from 2016 states thatthe trend shows that not only single youths are joining ISIS,but the whole familyincluding husband, wife, and even the childrenhave gone and joined ISIS.It is also mentioned in the article thatmost of the ISIS recruits before thiswere from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana. Not from Kerala.But this Strat News Global Report goes on to say thatby 2018, 60 Indians had travelled to Afghanistan. Of which 26 were males,13 women and 21 children.After knowing all of this, it can be clearly said thatthere is definitely a problem here.People are being radicalized, brainwashedto join ISIS.New modes of communication have opened up through the internet. In 2019, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said thatIndian investigators have found thatISIS is using the dark web and encrypted platformsto radicalize people and recruit terrorists. But the question here ishow big is this problem? The film said that this has already happened to 32,000 women in Kerala. But let's see the statistics.Vladimir Voronkov,the Undersecretary General of the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism. He said that from 110 countries, nearly 40,000 foreign terrorist fighterswent to Syria and Iraq to join the conflict. 40,000 individuals from 110 countries. Another estimate was given by the 2018 study bythe International Centre for the Study of Radicalization of King's College, London. 41,490 people from 80 different countriesare affiliated with ISIS.79% of them are men.On the basis of these two reports, we can arrive at an estimatethere are around 40,000-42,000 foreign terroristswho have gone to join ISIS from all over the world.So, how many of them are from India?
The Bureau of Counter-Terrorism of the USpublished country reports in 2020. It stated that by September 2020, the NIA had investigated 34 cases of terrorismand arrested 160 people related to ISIS in India.Let's see another source for double-checking. Observer Research Foundation published a paper in October 2019. They said that the number of pro-ISIS cases in Indiabetween 2014 and 2018 was around 180-200. This estimate of 200 peopledoesn't include only those peoplewho actually left India to join ISIS.It also includes those people who spread ISIS propagandaon the internet in India.Let's look at a third source. In 2019, the Indian Home Ministry said thatthis number was at 155. The next question is thatsince these are the cases from all over India, How many cases are there in Kerala? Out of the total 180-200 cases,40 cases are said to be from Kerala. 200 from Indiaand 40 from Kerala. But this number doesn't tell us how many people actually went to join ISIS.
Because the number includes all people affiliated with ISISand people who spread propaganda. How many people actually left India to join ISIS? US Department of State report revealed thatthere were around 66 known Indian-origin fighterswho were affiliated with ISISas of November 2020. You heard it right, only 66.2018's Strat News global report also gave a figure close to 60, so both numbers are quite close. Out of these 60, how many were women? Approximately 13 women. How many women were from Kerala? Only 6 women were from Kerala.Out of these 6, how many womenwere converted to Islam from other religions? 3 women. Out of these 3, 2 were Christiansand only 1 was a Hindu. The events shown in the filmhappened to 3 women in real lifebut not in the manner, shown in the film. However, the film claims thatthis happened to 32,000 women.
This is the Big Lie, friends. This lie is so big that if a common man hears it, he will think that even if not 32,000,there must still be some truth in it. This must have happened to a few 1,000 women.If not thousands,then it must have happened to hundreds of women. No! Only 3 women.Now some of you might say, whether it's 32,000 or 3, what difference does it make? The story remains the same. What's the problem? There are many problems. First, if instead of 32,000, the meagre number of 3 was used, then the whole concept of the film fails. Saying that there is a secret love jihad conspiracy going on here, to forcibly convert girls and send them to ISIS, and as a result of this conspiracy, only 3 women suffered,then it means that these are individual cases.There is no conspiracy here. Second, to generalize and exaggerate things to this levelis simply stupid.If this was done with any other incidentyou will say that it is utter nonsense.
Let me use an example. Over the last few months, there were 3 such cases ofan Indian citizen urinating on a co-passenger in an airplane. Now imagine, a country like America or Japanmakes a film called The India Storyand the film shows how Indiansalways urinate on co-passengers in airplanes. 32,000 such incidents too placewhere Indians have urinated on someone.How will you feel about it? You will say that it is utter nonsense. That they are trying to defame the country. But if on the other hand, the filmmaker saysthat 32,000 was an exaggerated numberbut it did happen thrice,so making the film was justified. What would be your response in that case?Does it make any sense? Similarly, the entire state of Kerala is being defamed for 3 individual cases. When the director of the film was asked about it, about the source of the 32,000 numberhe evaded the questions. While talking to Alt News, he said thatonly after the release of the film would he share his databased on which he used the number 32,000.He told The Quint thatasking such questions doesn't make any difference.
"It is very cliched."When the film was screened in JNU, he said that the 32,000 number was an arbitrary number. And when the matter reached the court, he removed 32,000 from the description of the filmreplacing it with 3. The truth is thatthe story of these three women was worth telling. Had this story been toldwithout lies and propaganda. Every person who is brainwashedand recruited in ISIS is a potential threat. But how big is this problem in India? If you compare it with other countries, you will find it shocking. In India, as I told you, this number is around 66, the victims of ISIS propaganda. According to the 2016 data,in the former Soviet republics, there were 7,000 such people.
2,500 people from Russia. 1,700 people in France. 760 people in Germany. The number of victims in the UK was also around 700. The population of all these countries is much less than India.But the number of people who fell victim to ISISis much higher in these countries.And here, it is also worth noting thatIndia has the 3rd largest Muslim population in the world. So, compared to countries like France, Germany and UK, more Muslims live in India. But still, fewer ISIS recruits are seen in India. If you look at the ratio here, ISIS recruits per million people, India has a ratio of 0.5 per million. It is 36 times more in France, at 18 per million.
Belgium has a ratio of 40 per millionand in Jordan, it is 315 per million. Was this mentioned in the film even once? Some people truly enjoywatching a state of their country being defamedbased on lies. The ORF report held thatacademics and experts often askwhy did so few Muslims from India join ISIS? There are many factors for this. First, the superb response of the Indian agencies. Very few of you may know about Operation Pigeon. Our agencies like NIA and IBcarried out a missionin which they identified 350 vulnerable Malayali youthand ran a de-radicalization programto save our youth from this extremism and radicalization. A great job by our officers.But you know what's shameful? Our Prime Minister, in his election speechesinstead of promoting good work, the PM promotes this film of lies. "The film based on terrorist plotsThe Kerala Story is nowadaysis highly talked about. "This reminds me of another historic operationby the Indian forces against ISIS.
If Prime Minister Modi wanted, he could have told people about this inspirational story. But no, he had to promote a propaganda film. The second reason as claimed by former diplomat Talmiz Ahmad,is India's syncretic culture and tradition. The Unity in Diversity in India. Muslims live harmoniously with Hindus and Christians in India. And that's why they rejected extreme ideologies.In 2015, when it was found thatonly 29 Indians had joined ISIS, a report stated that ISIS itselfconsidered Indian recruits to be inferior. ISIS believed that the Islam practised in Indiais a very soft version.It is a liberal version of Islam. Third, many Muslim clerics have also played a positive role here.In March 2009, Darul Uloom Deoband issued a fatwade claring India as Dar al-Aman.
A country where militant Jihad is prohibited. Similarly, in 2015, a joint fatwa was issuedby 70,000 Indian Muslim scholars against ISIS, Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. The real Kerala story hereis something to be proud of. Compared to the rest of the worldhow few Muslims from India joined ISIS. And Kerala is a living example of unity in diversity. People of different religions live together peacefully. This is the reason why Kerala is the number one state across many indicators. Number one in education, number one in healthcare, number one in human development index. But then our politicians use these fake stories to defame Kerala. In February this year,when Home Minister Amit Shah was campaigning for the electionssaid in Karnataka thatKerala is right next to Karnataka. Heavily implying on how dangerous Kerala is. Maligning Kerala is not the only propaganda in this film. Another Big Lie is Love Jihad.In the film, it is shown thatthere are forceful religious conversions.What is the truth?In 2017, the Kerala governmentsubmitted a list of 90 cases to the NIA to investigate whether there was a Love Jihad angle or not.
NIA examined 11 of those cases and concluded in 2018 that although PFI facilitated conversion, but not a single case was foundwhere a person of whatever gender was being forced to convert. If one proof is not enough, look at the other. The Union Home Ministry said the same in 2020. In 2020, Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddytold Lok Sabha in a written reply thatno case of Love Jihad has been reportedby any central agency. This conspiracy theory of Love Jihadis a Big Lie told to youusing different angles. Politicians use it in their speechesyou get these WhatsApp forwards from WhatsApp University talking about Love Jihad And the propaganda news channels use Love Jihad as news.
This big lie is repeated so many times that people begin to think that there must be some truth in it. The same thing that I said in the beginning. The whole concept of Love Jihadis not only used to defame Muslims, but the concept goes against women. Think about it, people who believe thata woman can be easily manipulated by a man, what kind of people are they? Are women cattle?Doesn't a woman have a brain? Anyone can come and say anything, and women will meekly follow around like cattle. Whether it's a Hindu woman, a Muslim woman, a Christian woman, or a woman of any other religion. All women should come togetherto tell their religious leaders to mind their own businesses.Women have brains.
If a man tries to forcefully convert a woman, she can go to the police.And the law states thatif someone tries to forcefully convert another person, he will have to go to jail.But the question is, how many people are being converted in India? Sometimes some Christian missionaries, or these Hindu priests or Muslim clericsbecome a little overactive in their preachingand the balance shifts a bit. Like this 2016 news article, where the leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad said thattheir organization has converted 750,000 peopleback to Hinduism in 10 years. But if these religious leaders from different religions don't interfere, and people want to convert of their own will, then you get to see a balance. Look at the April 2021 report. 506 people registered that they want to change their religionwith the Kerala government. 47% of these peopleconverted from Christianity or Islam to Hinduism. So it's not like we are seeing more conversions to one religion.
2021 survey by the Pew Research Centershowed the same thing. More than 30,000 people were surveyed and it was found that only 0.7% of peopleleft Hinduism and adopted other religions. And 0.8% of people left other religions and adopted Hinduism.We need to understand thatmerely for some political power, a very dirty game is being played here. Big lies are being propagated, conspiracy the ories are being developed so that Hindus, Muslims, and Christian scan be provoked into fighting each other. Some political parties benefit a lot ifpeople are filled with hatred for people from other religions.In the beginning, it was only WhatsApp forwards, then the propaganda-enabling media started doing this.
And now, propaganda films are being made to mislead people. 100 years ago, this used to happen during Hitler's rule as well.Many propaganda films were made. Many such filmswhich distorted history of their own will, defamed Jews and glorified German Aryans. Such big lies were propagated in those films. They were repeated to convince people. In the greed for power and money these people are trying to break the country from inside out.They who spread so much vile hatredshould remember one thing, it is possible that they be successful in spreading fear, violence and hatred. But they need to remember that this country has gone through a lot. Whenever any power tried to divide the country, the people of the country came together and bounced back. At last, I'd like to say thatIf you want to watch a film on this topic, watch this Swedish TV series on Netflix,The Caliphate.No one has been defamed in that film,no lies or propaganda has been spread.In fact, it tells a true storyof how ISIS recruited some young girls in Sweden.
It's a thrilling show. And thank you very much!