The secular psyche of Kerala has watched two recent developments with trepidation. Both had Muslim girl students on one side and Christian institutions on the other. One incident started with a few girl students in a central Kerala college demanding a special room to offer namaz. The issue escalated as the college management refused to yield to the demand, saying it could allow the students to step out to pray in nearby mosques. But conventionally, mosques do not allow women to enter. Things got more agitated with some Muslim groups supporting the students’ right to pray. Though all political student groups including SFI and KSU initially supported the students, they changed their tunes sensing that the general sentiment in the state was against the demand. The students withdrew their demand after Muslim religious leaders intervened.
Barely two weeks later, a similar situation occurred in a Catholic school nearby. This time, two parents approached the principal demanding time and space for their child to offer namaz. Their argument was that they were from a conservative family in which it was important to pray regularly. When the school refused, the parents insisted on picking up their kid everyday and taking her to a mosque. But the management refused permission, stating it would affect the institution’s timings and discipline. They also cited the Kerala education rules, which allow worship time for Muslim students in public schools only on Fridays. The issue is still on the boil.
These developments are worrying because they bring back memories of the infamous hand-chopping incident—a permanent tear on the collective secular fabric of the state. Religious fanatics belonging to the now-banned PFI chopped off the hands of a Malayalam professor teaching in a Catholic institution for naming a character Mohammed in a question paper. Such incidents are clearly instigated by a few with vested interests. But they put the entire Muslim community under a scanner. We must remember educational institutions are a space to learn, understand and evolve—a space where a child would hopefully get to know people from other cultures. In a state where each religion is politically and financially almost as powerful as the others—a rarity in the national context—attempts to vitiate learning spaces must be nipped at the bud.