The Cutting South conclave is back in the news. Kerala’s Vigilance Department Additional Chief Secretary has directed the Information & Public Relations Department (IPRD) Secretary to conduct a departmental inquiry into the Cutting South separatist program.
The investigation will look into and submit a report on the financial irregularities in the conference organised by the Kerala Media Academy. They allegedly used Rs 44.9 lakh of state funds to further a separatist agenda.
The conference titled ‘Cutting South’ was organised under the joint auspices of Kerala Media Academy, Kerala Union of Working Journalists, Confluence Media, Newslaundry, and The News Minute. The logo of Cutting South was controversial because South Bharat was depicted separately. Separating South Bharat is a well-publicised Popular Front of India (PFI) agenda.
Kerala IPRD is the state’s nodal agency for information services and media relations, which serves as a communication channel between the general public and the government. Kerala Media Academy is a joint venture between the government and the controversial Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ). KUWJ is a group of journalists close to the ruling Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM).
In March, the state government rejected it had any role in the separatist seminar organised by the Kerala Media Academy. The IPRD clarified that Confluence Media organised the controversial Cutting South Media Fest in Ernakulam in March 2023. IPRD claimed that Confluence Media approached for sponsorship for the event but was denied.
Confluence Media claimed to have collaborated with Cutting South, which Kerala Media Academy organised. The government’s stand is that Confluence Media was misappropriating the funds of Kerala Media Academy for Cutting South. Experts point out both parties are equally responsible.
Cutting South was PFI’s initial slogan to divide Bharat into north and south. Then, they planned to set up the United States of India to establish an Islamic state. Once the Islamic state was established, Islamist radicals could bring the army and courts under sharia law. The constitution could be amended to establish sharia law. This was the declared goal of the Popular Front of India terrorists.
Its first move was to divide Bharat into North and South. The PFI named this separatist idea Cutting South. The Global Media Festival was held in Kochi under the same name.
Allegedly, Confluence Media, The News Minute, and Newslaundry are the online portals that favour Popular Front. Did green communist leaders in Kerala and the paid media collude and conspire?
Confluence Media and Azhimukham are anti-national terrorist-justifying online portals owned by Keralite Josy Joseph. His wife, Priya Solomon, was one of the Cutting South event organisers. Solomon is from Punjab and has alleged links with the Khalistan movements. They are suspected of receiving funds from Canada for the separatist media conference in Kochi.
Joseph allegedly ratted out on PFI ‘Think Tank’ and terror suspect Siddique Kappan. Reportedly, our intelligence agencies received the details of Kappan and his team’s Hathras trip from someone at Azhimukham.
Kappan, another ‘journalist,’ was an online correspondent of Azhimukham and was elected ‘unopposed’ as secretary of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) in 2019. KUWJ claimed that Joseph ‘mentally tortured’ Kappan.
Kappan was arrested for attempting to incite caste violence over the tragic death of a Hindu SC girl in Hathras, UP, on October 5, 2020, and KUWJ worked hard to get Kappan released on bail.
It later became apparent that Kappan worked for the since-banned PFI. Kappan was detained under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), but influential PFI lawyers like Kapil Sibal approached the Supreme Court and got Kappan released on bail.
Another lawyer who worked for Kappan was Keralite Haris Beeran, a Sibal protege. Beeran claimed in court that he was convinced Kappan was implicated in a fake case. For his exemplary service to the PFI cause, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) (a Congress ally) gifted Beeran the party’s Rajya Sabha seat.
Other prominent cases Beeran argued in the Supreme Court relate to the hijab controversy, grooming jihad (Akhila aka Hadiya case), terrorist Abdul Nasar Madani and the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act cases. Such collaborations confirm that PFI, Congress and IUML are ideologically aligned.
It became clear that the Chairman of Confluence Media, Josy Joseph, was the mastermind of the Cutting South conclave to promote separatism in South Bharat. KUWJ, news portals News Minute and News Laundry also participated in the controversial Cutting South Conclave. Others partook since it was a Kerala Media Academy program.
Most state funds (Rs 44.9 lakh) spent on the Cutting South conclave were flight tickets, hotel accommodation and food bills for representatives from Confluence Media, The News Minute and Newslaundry. The amount allocated to the Kerala Media Academy in the 2023 24-year project cost was squandered.
Claimedly, the audit department of Kerala Media Academy has not approved these expenses. Incidentally, an IPRD Additional Director is also the Kerala Media Academy Secretary. He used the position and took the helm of the Cutting South program. Ideally, a central investigative agency should look into this anti-national crime.
The secretary, a government servant, is responsible for allocating the amount. It is indicated that there will be an investigation by the Principal Accountant General (Audit Kerala) soon.
Although the Kerala Media Academy paid for Cutting South, Confluence Media Chairman Joseph and The News Minute Editor Dhanya Rajendran were the prominent organisers. Although the hotel rooms were booked through Media Academy funds, Joseph and Rajendran decided where and which guests should stay. Joseph, the chief organizer, gifted himself the Cutting South book award at the event.
The organisers disclosed that the deliberate attempt to ‘divide’ conclave had received foreign funding. Dhanya Rajendran reportedly said the Canadian High Commission sponsored a ‘Climatic Changes’ seminar. She is said to have mentioned this while delivering a statement to the Bengaluru Central Police. This Canada High Commission’s sponsorship amount has not reached the Kerala Media Academy’s bank accounts.
The Cutting South organisers tried to link the central government with their evil project by dragging in Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai’s name. The Goa Governor had denied reports that he would participate in the conclave. Sreedharan also stated that he has no connection with the organisers. The controversy gained national attention when Sreedharan Pillai issued a press release.
