KOZHIKODE: Acclaimed marine researcher and Padma Shri awardee Ali Manikfan has tendered an apology for having attended a programme organised by RSS mouthpiece Kesari weekly and thereby participating in a ‘polytheistic ritual’ held as part the function.
The Akshara Ratha Yathra was taken out from Kanyakumari to Kozhikode to collect books for the new library set up at the headquarters of Kesari in Kozhikode. Manikfan attended the reception to the Yathra held at Pantheerankavu in the city on October 4. Manikfan said he agreed to attend the programme thinking it was the function of a library.
“I couldn’t think otherwise when a lamp was handed over to me during the programme. I was under psychological and circumstantial pressure. I couldn’t understand what I was doing at the time,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “I am a staunch believer in Islam and a steadfast follower of monotheism. My opinion is that any shade of polytheism should not be there in either belief or practice,” he said.
Manikfan said though he never had any polytheistic thought in his mind when he participated in the ritual, he regretted taking part in such a ritual and hence offered his apologies to everyone. Everyone should come forward to reject the Sangh Parivar which is destroying communal harmony and posing a challenge to secularism, he said. “I don’t have any soft feeling towards the politics of hatred of Sangh Parivar,” he wrote.
Kesari editor N R Madhu said Manikfan was forced to issue the statement after he was intimidated by ‘jihadi’ extremists. The idol of Saraswati, the goddess of learning, to be installed at the library too was part of the procession, he said. “Many cultural leaders and writers had garlanded the idol. Manikfan attended the function and offered arathi,” Madhu said. He said Manikfan is a nationalist who believes in the cultural values of the country.
“He regretted attending the function after jihadi extremists exerted pressure on him. The incident points to a dangerous situation in Kerala. The function was organised as part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the country’s freedom but an Indian citizen cannot take part in a function held as per Indian tradition,” he said.
A situation has been created by extremists where Manikfan cannot live in Kerala without expressing regret over participating in the function, Madhu said. “The silence of secularists in the issue of individual freedom is intriguing,” he said.