Conversion to Islam, has never been a ‘walk in the park’, for the last few years, in our Left progressive secular Kerala, as evident in numerous cases. The secular liberal common sense, more often than not, perpetuated by militant atheism, had always raised their eyebrows towards one’s conversion to Islam. Why it is still continued to be a bitter pill to swallow even for the political parties like CPI and CPIM, the self-proclaimed ‘minority- protectors’ is a big question, strong enough to unearth the islamophobic and the brahmanical crux of these so called secular parties.
Former CPML leader and social activist, Najmal Babu’s demise and subsequent controversy over his funeral has once again stirred up the hornet’s nest on the discourse of conversion to Islam. Contrary to his wish to be buried with Islamic rites in the premise of the Cheraman Masjid, his ‘atheist’ family, was intolerantly adamant on cremating him at his brother’s land and thus denying him his last wish, all with the support of the police and some left political leaders.
TN Joy, who had converted to Islam and accepted the name Najmal Babu in 2015, had requested the Cheraman Masjid authorities at Kodungallur to allow him to be buried there after his death. It was even more disgusting that some of the left liberal intellectuals came out in the open to justify the action, i.e, the decision taken by the family to not hand over his body to the Masjid authority, by dubbing him as ‘non-practicing. Najmal Babu, in an interview in 2015 had said, “they say that I embraced islam as a publicity stunt. The only thing I have to tell them is that I am at the beginning of a journey to Almighty. I am a believer in the world hereafter which gives me immense serenity.” Above words debunk all the intellectual exercises made by the left liberals to scrutinize his religiosity, and to legitimize the human rights violation. It was undoubtedly a flagrant disrespect to the social activist who fought tooth and nail for human rights of the oppressed.
He was not the only one to have been denied Islamic way of funeral. C Simon, a retired headmaster of Kodungallur had accepted Islam in 2000. He had written some books on Islam and Bible too. However, he had also become a victim of ‘Posthumous forceful reconversion’ when his family, with the help of a CPI MLA, insisted on donating his body to a medical college hospital in contrast with his wish to be buried with islamic rituals. Kamala surayya’s conversion in 1999 had created a storm and the ripples followed till her death in 2009, when a certain group wanted her body to be cremated with Hindu rituals.
A few years back, VS Achuthanandan, then chief minister, and the supreme leader of CPIM had made a deplorable comment about the ‘potential’ Islamisation of Kerala in twenty years by converting people to Islam. It’s one of the first instances in which a secular leader from Kerala expressed his concern over conversions to islam. Hadiya, a homeopathic medical student who embraced Islam had to undergo 11 months of virtual house arrest before she got justice from the apex court. The left liberal machinations were callously collusive with the hindutva fanatics in curtailing her fundamental rights such as freedom to move and to live according to her will.
That said, the secular democratic logic behind Why these vanguards of progressive liberal values and human rights don’t really care about the fundamental rights of Muslims is still quite unfathomable.