The influence of Wahhabism is much stronger in South India than in the North

by Guest Fri Dec 06, 2013 6:32 pm

The influence of Wahhabism is much stronger in south India than in the north. Groups such as the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political front, the Social Democratic Party of India, have gained considerable influence in Kerala and coastal Karnataka. Reports about the PFI running terrorist camps in northern Kerala surfaced last year, following which several PFI leaders were arrested. In July 2010, PFI activists reportedly chopped off a professor’s hand, apparently for preparing a question paper with blasphemous references to the Prophet Muhammad.

The PFI has been charged with kidnapping and also the murder of several Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh workers in northern Kerala. Political observers have opined that Wahhabism in south India is an import from the Gulf region, where many south Indians have migrated for work.

One of the main activities of the Wahhabi groups in India is mobilisation of students groups in colleges. The PFI and its front organisations have begun to wield considerable influence in many private colleges. In their desire to take forward their understanding of puritanical Islam, they issue diktats against Muslim women who refuse to wear the burqa. Rayana R. Kazi moved the Kerala High Court in 2010 seeking police protection after she received threatening phone calls asking her not to wear jeans and shirt. Similarly, Shirin Middya, a lecturer in Aliah University near Kolkata, was asked by the students union to wear a burqa if she wanted to teach. The students’ union even banned her from entering the university premises.

In Tamil Nadu, too, the influence of Wahhabism has increased in rural areas. The Tamil poet Salma said: “A woman writing is considered a sin. It was very difficult. People would come and threaten my family.” Pointing out that the level of intolerance had increased in recent years, she said that the Wahhabis advocate child marriage, discourage women from studying, and campaign among Muslim families to live according to the Sharia laws. “You cannot question the traditional way of divorce in front of them. They become militant,” she said.

http://www.frontline.in/cover-story/wahhabi-impact/article5338336.ece?ref=sliderNews