A protest by Muslim students in the Kasaragod district was misconstrued as an attempt to impose burqa on Hindu women travelling by bus.
Anil Antony
This week, a false social media campaign spread throughout the country when Sangh Parivar handles circulated images and clippings of a protest by students and falsely claimed that Muslim women in Kerala were trying to force Hindu women to wear burqa.
They said that Hindus in Kerala were being compelled to wear head coverings when riding in transit buses.
Some misconstrued the exchange in Malayalam between the passengers of a bus in the footage as calls to compel Hindu women to wear burqa.
BJP national spokesperson Anil Antony added to the misinformation by posting one such propaganda material on X (formerly Twitter), accusing the CPI(M) and the Congress in Kerala of inciting Hindu women to wear burqa.
However, the incident that this viral clipping is taken from is of an argument between a passenger and students of Khansa College in the Kasaragod district, who were staging a protest, and had nothing to do with religious practices.
Despite being pointed out that this was propaganda, Anil chose to obfuscate the issue.
Students from Khansa Women’s College for Advanced Studies in Kumbla, in the northern Kasargod region of Kerala, staged a protest on 21 October against a private bus that would not halt at the approved bus stop near their college.
The students, who were primarily Muslim girls dressed in burqas, obstructed the road to draw attention to how difficult it was for them to leave their educational institution after classes.
The majority of the women of Kumbla, a Muslim-dominated area located close to Mangaluru in Karnataka, wear burqas.
When South First contacted the Kumbla police, they confirmed that the demonstration had no communal focus and was merely a spontaneous way for students to vent their anger against the bus operator for violating the Regional Transport Authority’s directive to stop near the institution.
When the police intervened and promised to take action to guarantee that the buses would permit the girls to board from the authorised stop near the campus, the girls dispersed.
The police also disclosed that a woman, who was probably Hindu, had complained to the girls about stopping the bus while many passengers were sitting inside it to reach their destinations.
In response, the girls asked her what her response would be if her daughter experienced the same thing.
The incident came to an end there. However, it was given a different hue on social media.
The incident in the bus was quickly shared on social media and was given a communal angle.
A narrative was fabricated claiming that the protesting students, most of them Muslims, were forcing Hindu women to wear a burqa.
“India’s Sharia Patrols! When a Hindu woman dared to board a bus in Kerala without a sharia covering, an Islamic woman harassed her. The furious Muslims insisted she cover herself with a burqa. Allahu Akbar! Muslims do not want Hindus to use public transit until they comply with their Sharia laws! In Europe and India, sharia patrols are becoming more common. Attacks and harassment are directed towards women and any non-Muslim who does not behave or dress in accordance with Islamic law,” said a tweet that went viral.
“Muslims in India are busy pretending/whining that they are being victimised by Hindus,” the tweet further said.
Sharia Patrols in India!
Islamic woman harassed a Hindu woman for daring to ride a bus in Kerala without a sharia covering. The enraged Muslims demanded she wear a burqa.
Muslims do not want Hindus to ride on public transportation without adhering to their Sharia demands -… pic.twitter.com/eXwTexfIl0
— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) October 27, 2023
BJP national spokesperson Anil, on the X platform, was quick to accuse Kerala’s CPI(M) and Congress of inciting Hindu women to wear purdah the debate took a different turn.
“This is the brand of ‘secularism’ the INDI alliance led by @INCIndia and @CPIMKerala wants to bring to the national mainstream. No bus rides without a burqa in northern Kerala. Even a Dr. @ShashiTharoor was not spared from their bullying when he said yesterday in an @kerala_iuml rally yesterday that what happened in Israel was a terrorist attack by a terrorist organisation. Not surprising too since for the rest of the @INCKerala and @CPIMKerala leaders in Kerala Hamas are a bunch of freedom fighters and their terrorist activities of killing, beheading and mutilating innocent civilians is a form of ‘armed resistance.’ Kerala led by these politicians is becoming a hotbed of fundamentalism and radicalisation. Ominous signs,” he posted in X.
He eventually deleted the quoted post, but not before people had already taken screenshots.
Meanwhile, his repost of the original post is still visible on his timeline of X.
Anil, the son of Congress Working Committee (CWC) member AK Antony, is not new to disseminating misinformation.
He tweeted that the CPI(M) and the Congress were to blame for Kerala becoming a hub for jihadis after an army officer from Kollam falsely stated he was captured, his hands were bound, and PFI was written on his back in green paint by people who were presumably activists of the outlawed Popular Front of India.
He persisted in saying this even after the man was detained by the police for fabricating the entire drama to grab attention and make it easier for him to report late for duty following his vacation.
Rahul Easwar, a Sangh Parivar figure in Kerala, came out to confirm that the Kasaragod issue was fake and that there had been no attempt to force the burqa on Hindu women in the diverse state of Kerala, which caused a setback for Anil.
Muhammad Zubair, the founder of Alt New, also came out against the propaganda.
Yet, Anil chose to stick to his guns, appearing to try and obfuscate the issue when he claimed that the words in the video were “unclear”.
The words in the video is unclear – all anyone can hear is a lot of shouting and screaming and bullying by a bunch of Burqa clad women.
The rest – Indeed for many of the @INCKerala @CPIMKerala and @kerala_iuml politicians in Kerala – Hamas is perceived as a bunch of freedom… https://t.co/G0rm5llxJQ— Anil K Antony (Modiyude Kudumbam) (@anilkantony) October 27, 2023
Widespread anger in Kerala is being generated by this issue against Anil, who frequently stirs up trouble with his anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“Such a hateful campaign designed to incite conflict amongst communities is unacceptable to anybody,” stated Rahul Mankoottathil, a leader of the Youth Congress.
“The Sangh Parivar must stop running such vengeful campaigns that split people along communal lines,” he said.
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