Pro-Palestine protest: CPM Kannur chief slams police for FIR against Jamaat-e-Islami group

Kannur: CPM Kannur District Secretary K K Ragesh slammed the Kerala Police for registering an FIR against a Jamaat-e-Islami group that organised a pro-Palestine protest at Madayipara, a revered and ecologically fragile hillock that is also a popular picnic spot in Pazhayangadi. Ragesh's objection was not to the FIR itself but to its wording, which explicitly claimed that waving Palestine flags and raising pro-Palestine slogans would "create communal discord" in society.

He said the CPM had organised countless demonstrations in support of Palestine and against Israel’s aggression. "The communists have always, at every stage, stood firmly with Palestine. Whoever wrote the FIR is brainless. We strongly disagree with it," said Ragesh, who earlier served as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s private secretary before taking charge of the party in Kannur district.

His criticism comes at a time when the Kerala Police, under Vijayan’s leadership, is facing public outrage over widespread extrajudicial assaults on ordinary people. It is also telling because the CPM has been targeting Jamaat-e-Islami ever since the organisation broke with the LDF and aligned itself with the Congress-led UDF.

Ragesh was addressing a CPM public meeting at Pazhayangadi on Wednesday. Behind him, the stage banner read: 'Won’t allow Madayipara to be used as a cover for communal games'. In his speech, Ragesh drew a distinction between the CPM’s protests and the BJP's against Jamaat-e-Islami's Girls Islamic Organisation (GIO), which staged the Madayipara demonstration.

On September 5, a day when Thiruvonam, Eid-e-Milad, and Teacher’s Day coincided, around 30 members of GIO gathered in Madayipara. Standing in a circle, they waved Palestine flags and held banners reading: 'It's Jihad, Victory or Martyrdom'. They clapped and raised slogans in English against Israel. "We are the people. We won’t be silent. Free, Free, Free Palestine. 1,2,3,4, Occupation No more. 5,6,7,8, Israel is a terrorist state! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! Netanyahu, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!" They chanted amid mist and holiday crowds on the hilltop.

About three-fourths of the Madayipara hilltop belongs to the Thiruvarkadu Bhagavathi Temple, also called Madayi Kavu, which is managed by the Malabar Devaswom Board.

The BJP has threatened to launch massive protests if the police do not invoke sedition charges against the protesters for holding a demonstration on Devaswom land. They also called for action against a private school in Pazhayangadi that sent its bus to ferry the protesters to the hilltop. According to the BJP, Jamaat-e-Islami deliberately chose Devaswom land to create communal division.

While the BJP focused on both the venue and the slogans, the CPM highlighted only the choice of venue for the protest. "Whether the land belongs to the Devaswom Board or anyone else makes no difference. Madayipara is a recreation and learning space, where people of all castes and religions come together," said Ragesh. "But no political party or organisation holds protests there. So why did Jamaat-e-Islami, whose office is four to five kilometres away, choose to do so?"

"What was their objective? They know very well that if they protest there, BJP workers will also descend on the ground wearing saffron bandanas. And if that happens, society will be pushed towards communal division. In such polarisation, Jamaat-e-Islami gains on one side and the RSS on the other. The two organisations are helping each other. Isn’t that exactly why they did it?"

The Payangadi police booked 30 GIO members, led by Afra Shihab, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for unlawful assembly [Section 189 (2)], rioting [Section 191 (2)], wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot [Section 192], and common intention [Section 190].
Police said the protest lacked permission. But the FIR went further, stating that the demonstrators assembled at "ecologically sensitive Madayipara, raised various flags and banners, and staged a demonstration, shouting pro-Palestine slogans with the intention of committing an offence and creating communal discord".

Residents in Madayipara who keep their distance from both the BJP and the CPM said many visitors to the hilltop may not even know the land belongs to the Devaswom. "But organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami would certainly know, and their choice of Madayipara as a protest site cannot be brushed aside as innocent," said a senior journalist and environmental activist who once organised rain walks at the scenic spot.

He recalled that protests had been held there earlier, but only against government decisions to permit clay and laterite mining. "Otherwise, no one uses this place for demonstrations," he said.

Another activist noted that the BJP has a strong grip over Madayi Kavu, and so the CPM, the dominant force in the area, cannot afford to appear lenient on the Palestine protest on the temple land. "That's why the CPM is walking a tightrope. It cannot disown the Palestine cause, nor can it ignore Jamaat-e-Islami," he said.

The senior journalist quoted earlier added that Madayipara has a historical link to Jews. "There is a pond there called Joothakkulam (Jews' Pond in Malayalam), which suggests the area may once have had Jewish settlers. Of course, no Jewish families remain there today. And I'm not sure if Jamaat-e-Islami chose the site because of the pond," he said.

When contacted, Girls Islamic Organisation leader Afra Shihab, who headed the protest, said she would respond to the questions later.