Around Monday dusk, a few Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) members threatened and tried to interrupt the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Shakha at Kottakkal Venkitta Thevar Shiva Temple in Malappuram district. Kerala police protected these hecklers and did not intervene even after they turned provocative. Around 20 DYFI activists marched into the Shakha and announced they would not allow it inside the temple yard. 

Simply put, a shakha is a daily gathering of Swayamsevaks of different age groups at a predefined meeting place or ground for one hour. DYFI is the quasi-militant wing of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM). The incident was captured on mobile phones, and the footage soon went viral. 

DYFI’s show of force did not deter the 20-odd RSS volunteers, including minors, and they continued with the usual routines. RSS activists returned after closing the branch and singing the closing prayers. That the police stood as mere spectators even after the DYFI workers threatened to behead RSS activists has attracted massive condemnation.

Police knew beforehand that DYFI would create problems and arrived near the temple in advance. DYFI activists came holding flags, gathered around the temple, shouted slogans, and moved menacingly close to the Sangh Pracharak. Swayamsevaks did not budge even though slogans of provocation were raised. 

After the meeting, a few RSS workers left. Even after dismissing the Shakha, some senior Swayamsevaks remained there for a while. DYFI members continued sloganeering but finally vacated the place. 

According to DYFI, the protest was against establishing a Shakha on the temple premises. They raised slogans saying that the protest was a warning. If the RSS Swayamsevaks did not learn from the sign, they would cut off their limbs and throw them in a canal. 

Initial slogans threatened to drive the RSS volunteers out of the temple compound using force. When that did not intimidate, they used such open threats. Police merely watched and did nothing to stop or prevent the open calls for violence. 

DYFI attempted to create maximum provocation with slogans of a massacre. An unnamed DYFI leader who led the protest said that the temple is the property of the believers, and they will not allow it to be turned into private property.

The DYFI did not forget to threaten that if the branch is to continue in this manner, it will be opposed firmly using brute force, and there will be no compromise. They even called on other believers (Hindus) to participate in their protest. Keeping in view the possibility of conflict, the police began to monitor the area.

Even though there was plenty of evidence, mainstream media refused to carry the news. By Tuesday morning, news about the atrocity against Hindus in Malappuram started to trickle out. Protests intensified against DYFI workers who tried to block the RSS Shakha in Malappuram. 

On his Facebook page, BJP state president K Surendran asked where there is a ban on Sangh Shakhas anywhere in the country. He reminded the green communists that RSS is a legitimate organization.

Video footage of DYFI workers raising provocative slogans and Swayamsevaks performing prayers in the midst of it has also surfaced. Police were also there. There is widespread criticism that DYFI is trying to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere in the region and causing political tension, Surendran added.

Surendran asked whether DYFI’s permission is required to set up a Shakha in Malappuram. He also warned that the communists should stop this groundwork of cultivating fear in the minds of minorities. Incidentally, the so-called minorities are 75% of the population in Malappuram, as per the 2011 census.

Surendran added that the RSS has branches at Parapram in Pinarayi, Kannur, and Punnapra in Alappuzha. (Both are considered communist fortresses). He ended his Facebook post by reminding those DYFI workers who came prepared for violence about the (Edappal Ottam) communist disorderly retreat/rout in Edappal. 

In early 2019, CPM/DYFI goons attacked an RSS roadshow in Edappal, Malappuram District. RSS workers were opposing the atrocities against Hindus in the Sabarimala temple. The communists used a video and claimed they chased away the Sangh Parivar activists who had ‘unleashed violence.’ They lied that RSS activists were doing the rounds in the town on motorbikes forcing shops to shut down and destroying public property.  

Later, the complete footage of the same video showed the communists running for cover after police lathi-charged them. Those dodging lathis barged into the roadshow dispersing a few RSS Swayamsevaks on motorcycles. Though HinduPost does not encourage violence, the RSS retaliation back then was quick and hard. 

Prominent leaders (including cabinet ministers) and left-leaning media still use those same lies, but their social media posts remain withdrawn. Edappal is 30 km south of Kottakkal.   

Having failed to provoke the RSS volunteers at the Kottakkal Shakha, this time, too, communist propagandists and cyber warriors tried to use fake news. They claimed that the meeting was disrupted and abandoned. RSS Malappuram District Karyavahak P Srinivasan told the media that the news that it was blocked is untrue.

The Shakha began at seven and concluded after prayers at eight o’clock. News that Shakha has been suspended is baseless. It was also held on Tuesday, and over a hundred people attended the branch. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Section Sevapramukh K V Ramankutty delivered the keynote address, and Khand Sanghachalak K Muralidharan presided. 

The BJP Mandal General Secretary and prominent Swayamsevak in the area, Jayan Thelapurath, confirmed to The Organiser correspondent that the RSS Shakha is being held there with the full support of the temple administration under private dewaswom. No political outfit or radical organization has the authority or right to demand that Sangh Swayamsevaks disband the Shakha. There is every possibility that the communists will usurp this temple too.

Incidentally, there are few Marxists in Kottakkal but plenty of green communists. Abid Hussain Thangal from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is the MLA, and he defeated Muhammad Kutty from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the 2021 assemblies. DYFI ‘protestors’ were nowhere to be seen on Tuesday.

The episode is allegedly part of CPM’s strategy to incite nationalists, escalate communal tensions, and engage in physical altercations before declaring that secularism is in jeopardy. It is another cheap technique for gaining support in an area where Muslims make up the majority. The magnificent CPM plan suits the proscribed Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political branch SDPI.