THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Is there a chance that the blasphemous remarks in the controversial Malayalam question paper prepared by Newman College, Thodupuzha, teacher T J Joseph for an internal examination at the college was a mistake committed accidentally?
The argument of the near and dear of Joseph that it was not a purposeful act has gathered weight following the revelation that the controversial portion in the question paper was copied from a book published by Kerala State Institute of Languages. That too from an article written by P T Kunhumohammed, ex-MLA, a pious Muslim, in the book `Thirakathayude Reethisasthram’ (Methodology of Screenplay), edited by P M Binukumar.
As the controversy has broken all barriers and met a tragic turn with fanatics chopping off the palm of Prof Joseph, Express feels it proper to bring out the original source of the question paper. As question no 11 of the controversial question paper, the lecturer had placed a passage to punctuate. Certain dialogues, which might be viewed as derogatory, between God and a character was the portion given for the assignment.
The passage was copied as such from Kunhumohammed’s essay in the book but with an addition. The lecturer named the character, which had been kept unnamed by Kunhumohammed, as `Mohammed’ triggering strong protest from Muslim organisations.
``The article in that book was based on a lecture by me in Thiruvananthapuram. The incident narrated is also a true one. In Chavakkad, there was a mad man who used to speak to God,’’ Kunhumohammed told Express. The man often sounded like a Soofi and treated God as a close companion. ``He seemed to have the freedom to address his God by whatever name he wished,’’ he added.
Kunhumohammed’s mentioning of the incident was related to a scene of his award-winning movie `Garshom’. ``There is a scene of the protagonist, Sainuddin, meeting God in the movie. I derived the form for that scene from the Chavakkad lunatic. To explain this, I recalled the old story,’’ said Kunhumohammed, who is sad at the ugly turn of events which followed the question paper.
``The attack on the lecturer is a handiwork of those who are afraid of light of Islam. I am sure the majority of the community are not with them. Such persons are creating unruly scenes to air a feel that they are still calling the shots as far as the affairs of Muslim community are concerned,’’ he said.