In a school in Kochi, Kerala, a student was stopped for wearing hijab, the Christian and Islamic communities were torn apart. The school argues that the dress code is the same for everyone, while the student’s family alleges that the school administration is deliberately harassing other religions. Overall, Kerala, which was earlier known for education and natural beauty, is now seeing religious differences there too.
Is this conflict limited to dress code, or is there an ideological gap behind it too?
A private school with the help of Latin Catholic Church is in the news in Kochi. On October 10, an eighth grade student was denied entry there because of her hijab. Soon after this, the student’s family and community members gathered and started protesting against the school. Seeing the situation getting out of control, the school administration had to declare a holiday for two days so that the unrest subsided. This is not an isolated incident. between Christian and Muslim communities Kerala The distance is increasing.
What does the school administration say
According to media reports, the principal very gently asked the student to take off her hijab on the first day when she came wearing it. She agreed then but came again the next day in hijab. This time the school stopped her from admitting until she removed the hijab. After this, many people from his parents to the community got involved in the matter.
The school then gave an official statement that the girl’s parents were giving the statement due to political provocation. He is associated with the Social Democratic Party of India. This is a party which is allegedly supported by the banned Popular Front of India. The school alleges that these people are misbehaving with the nuns working in the school. Fingers are also being raised as to why the student, who till now was coming in normal uniform, suddenly started wearing hijab, even though she was aware of the dress code in the beginning itself. However, till the time of writing the news, information is also coming that the girl’s family has agreed to follow the dress code.
This issue is not limited to one school or one area, but there is conflict in every matter between the Christian and Muslim communities in the state.
Whose, what is the population?
The Hindu population in Kerala is more than 50 percent. After this there is Muslim population, which is around 27 percent. A little more than 18 percent are Christians. This data is from the last census i.e. 2011. But during this time, small talk started taking place regarding the religious population. In fact, the Muslim community is growing faster than the Hindu and Christian communities.
If we take the last census only, between 2001 and 2011 the religious population increased by 2.2 percent. At the same time, the Muslim population directly increased by about 13 percent. To understand in simple way, while the fertility rate is low in other communities, emphasis is given on fertility in the Muslim population.
Fertility rate is not the reason for difference in population
In the last two decades, people of Christian and Hindu communities from Kerala also rapidly migrated to other countries and settled there. Muslims are also migrating but temporarily. They work in Gulf countries and return after some time.
Since this population is still stable, obviously their political and social penetration also increased. The Christian community became aggressive regarding this also. The Muslim community has become very strong economically due to the influx of employment and money in the Gulf countries. Due to this, some Christian businessmen and institutions are feeling behind.
At some places there were also allegations of religious conversion.
An intelligence report a few years old had claimed that people of both religions were moving towards Islam. In the report published in Times of India, it was also believed that among the people converting, more than 75 percent are women below 35 years of age. The truth of what was reported by the Intelligence is not known, but this is the reason which especially provoked the Christian community.
Meanwhile, the issue of alleged love jihad also started gaining prominence. Many Christian organizations openly said that Muslim youth are tricking Christian girls and converting them. Such allegations started increasing the distance further.
Radicalism emerging on both sides
Many Christian groups were formed which started giving aggressive statements on love jihad, narcotic jihad and on screen. Meanwhile, politicians in Kerala also became active in a different way. He started expressing that everything would be fine if Hindus and Christians united against Muslim fundamentalism.
The Muslim section, which had established roots economically and politically, was also no longer weak. He surrounded both the communities together and said that Christians are now becoming Christians. Made from a combination of the words Sanghi and Christian, this word in itself sounds fundamentalist. Many groups have been formed on social media, which are making videos in the language of Them vs Us.
Why are Hindus not making any difference despite being in majority?
It is worth noting here that the Hindu population in the state is majority, yet they do not show the same uneasiness about the alleged changing demography as there is in the Christian community. There are many reasons for this. One is that the Hindu community is diverse, it has many divisions. Everyone’s priorities are different. Therefore, there is no collective fear over the increase in Muslim population. There is direct competition between Muslims and Christians.
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