KERALA GAZA PROTEST IS APPEASEMENT POLITICS

COUNTLESS centuries ago, the sage Parasurama is believed to have flung his battle axe into the Arabian Sea. The Sage's Own Country emerged from the waters, symbolising the ultimate power of Hinduism.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

The myth of its birth has been overtaken by the new reality of local-for-global communalism, nourished by Kerala's two pre-eminent parties-the Congress and the Communists. The distance of 4,780 km between Gaza and Kozhikode isn't a deterrent for sowing hatred. Ignited by religious fanaticism and fuelled by identity politics, the people of Kozhikode roared in anger last week against Israel's lethal attacks on the Gaza Strip after the October 7 massacre.

Similar anti-semitic protests and vandalism in immigrant-dense countries are being powered by secular illiberals in the name of woke liberation. But the outrage in Kozhikode was communally toxic, endorsing Hamas terrorists. Organised by a Muslim youth outfit, it was the biggest Palestine solidarity march in India with full backing from all Islamic political and religious groups. The dirtiest stain on the Malayali keffiyeh was the live virtual address by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to an over 100,000-strong crowd. It was a privilege no Hamas terrorist has got in any other country. Mashal's 7-minute video showed off the slogan, "Uproot bulldozer Hindutva and apartheid Zionism." Local sponsors are exploiting the Gaza war to spew venom and place radical Islamism on steroids in the state, which had been driven underground by the NSA's sweeping arrests of PFI leaders.