Vijayashree RameshA HISTORY OF HINDU GENOCIDE
“MOPLAHS” ARE HINDUS OF KERALA THOSE WHO GOT CONVERTED TO ISLAM. THEY ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF ARAB FATHER AND MALAYALAM SPEAKING HINDU MOTHER.
THE REGION OF MALABAR, A PEACEFUL PLACE TILL THESE MOPLAHS IN 1836 BEGAN A SERIES OF 20 DISTURBANCES WITHIN 18 YEARS.
THE YEAR 1921-22 WITNESSED THE GENOCIDE OF HINDUS BY THE MOPLAHS, RESULTING IN 2500 HINDUS-SLAUGHTERED AND ATLEAST 26000 FLED AS REFUGEES, MANY OTHERS FORCIBLY CONVERTED-SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND MORE THAN 100 HINDU TEMPLES DESTROYED.
MOPLAHS, REFERRED TO, ALL THE GUESTS OR INVADERS TO KERALA ESPECIALLY IN THE MALABAR REGION. THEY WERE SOME OF THE EARLIEST MUSLIMS SETTLED IN SOUTH ASIA AND HAD DIRECT CONNECTIONS WITH ARABS, THROUGH SPICE TRADE ROUTES WITH THE GULF.
TILL 1498 THE MOPLAHS LIVED AND GREW THEIR TRADE IN THE REGION DUE TO THE TOLERANCE SHOWN BY HINDUS. IT WAS ALSO BELIEVED IN THIS PERIOD THERE WERE INTER-FAITH MARRIAGES BETWEEEN HINDU AND MUSLIMS WERE COMMON, WHERE MANY HINDUS CONVERTED TO ISLAM AND NOT VICE VERSA.
ON ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS, THESE MOPLAHS WERE SIDELINED, THEIR TRADE AND COMMERCE SQUEEZED AND ARAB TRADE ROUTES WERE CURTAILED. UNABLE TO BUY OR INHERIT LANDS OWNED BY HINDUS, ZERO TOLERANCE METED BY THE EUROPEANS TOWARDS MOPLAHS PERSECUTED THEM COMMERCIALLY.
THIS LED TO INCREASE IN ANIMOSITY TOWARDS HINDUS BY MOPLAHS AND STARTED SEEING THEM AS RIVALS. THE PEPPER POLITICS SHOWN BY EUROPEANS ONE FOLLOWING THE OTHER LED TO MILITANCY AND RELIGIOUS FANATICISM IN MOPLAHS. IT WAS DURING THE REIGN OF HYDER ALI (1782) AND TIPU SULTAN (1799) MOPLAHS’ GAINED PROMINENCE, HATRED TOWARDS HINDUS SHOWN BY ISLAMIC INVADERS TOOK PERMANENT GROUND. WHEN THE BRITISH GAINED FULL POWER (1792) THE HOPES OF THE MOPLAHS TO PROSPER WERE SQUASHED WHICH TURNED THEM MORE BITTER THAN EVER BEFORE.
IT IS NOTABLE TO SAY FROM THE PERIOD 1821-1921 THERE WERE 51 MILITANT OUTBREAKS OF THE MOPLAHS FUELED BY AGRARIAN DISCONTENT, COMMERCIAL INTERESTS , BUT WAGED IN THE SPIRIT OF JIHAD AGAINST EVERYONE THEY SAW AS OPPONENTS-BE IT CHRISTIAN RULERS OR HINDU LANDLORDS.
IN THE MEANTIME THE KHILAFAT MOVEMENT CAME IN AS AN UPRISING OF INDIAN MUSLIMS IN SUPPORT OF THE ISLAMIC CALIPHATE IN THE WAKE OF WORLD WAR I. IT AIMED AT ISLAMIC DOMINION OVER INDIA, BY DESTROYING THE BRITISH EMPIRE WITH SUPPORT FROM THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, WHICH WAS EVENTUALLY EXTERMINATED IN LATE 1922. THIS MOVEMENT ENSURED IF AFGHANS WAGED WAR AGAINST INDIA, THE MUSLIMS WOULD GO AGAINST BRITISH BUT ALSO HINDUS AS WELL.
THIS MOVEMENT GAINED FORCE IN MALABAR OWING TO PATRONAGE, UNDER THE GARB OF NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT. THE EMBOLDENED MOPLAHS’ REBELS ARMED WITH KNIVES AND AMMUNITION HAD PLANNED THE ATTACK ON THE BRITISH AND HINDUS LEST THEY FAIL THEM.
DESPITE THE OPINION THAT MOPLAH’ REBELLION WERE AN OUTCOME OF AGRARIAN AND ECONOMIC DISTRESS, THIS WAS NOT THE CASE WITH HINDUS WHEN THEY HAD ISLAMIC RULERS AND WERE OPPRESSED. INSTEAD, HINDUS OF MALABAR FLED AND ABANDONED THEIR HOMES AND LANDS DURING THE REIGN OF HYDER ALI AND TIPU SULTAN. HENCE THIS REBELLION WAS A BIGGER CATASTROPHE FOR HINDUS THAN THE EARLIER OUTBREAKS, BECAUSE IT WAS AN ORGANIZED MOVEMENT. AMPLIFIED BY THE KHILAFAT MOVEMENT, WHICH MADE IT SEEM LIKE A PLANNED CRIME RATHER THAN DISCRETE OUTBREAKS BY DISCONTENT RELIGIOUS MILITANTS.
DURING THE ENTIRE MOPLAHS’ REBELLION UNSPEAKABLE, UNIMAGINABLE ATROCITIES WERE COMMITTED AGAINST HINDUS, WHICH IS WHY IT IS CALLED MOPLAH HINDU GENOCIDE. THE YEAR 1921-22 WITNESSED THE GENOCIDE OF HINDUS BY THE MOPLAHS, RESULTING IN 2500 HINDUS-SLAUGHTERED AND ATLEAST 26000 FLED AS REFUGEES, MANY OTHERS FORCIBLY CONVERTED-SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND MORE THAN 100 HINDU TEMPLES DESTROYED.
OTHER BRUTALITIES INCLUDED VIOLATION OF MODESTY OF WOMEN, BUTCHERING CHILDREN, FORCING HINDUS INTO SUBMISSION OR DEATH. HINDUS WERE EXTERMINATED SYSTEMATICALLY TO THE SHOCK OF THE BRITISH OFFICERS AS WELL, WHO DID NOT ANTICIPATE SUCH MASS VIOLENCE AGAINST HINDUS BY THE MOPLAHS’.
THE TOTAL NUMBER OF HINDU REFUGEES ESTIMATED TO BE MORE THAN 26000 AS ACCOUNTED BY ARYA SAMAJ WHICH ARRIVED IN KERALA TO PROVIDE RELIEF TO HINDUS. MOPLAHS’ ATROCITIES WERE NOT ONLY LIMITED TO BUTCHERING HINDUS, THEY MADE IT THEIR LIFE’S MISSION TO DEFILE AND DESTROY EVERY HINDU TEMPLE IN THE MALABAR REGION. THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF ACCOUNTS OF HINDU REFUGEES REPORTING THEIR PLIGHT OF, LIVES DESTROYED, KINS LOST, RELIGION BEING DEFILED. IT IS INDEED THE BIGGEST ASSAULT ON HINDUS IN THE HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA YET.
THE WOUNDS OF THE DEADLY HINDU GENOCIDE TOOK LONGER TO HEAL, WITH SCARS. THE DEMOGRAPHY AND TURMOIL FACED BY KERALA, ALONG WITH THE RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS OF MANY HINDUS OF KERALA, IS, IN SOME WAYS, RELATED TO THE GORY HISTORY OF MALABAR AND ATTACKS ON HINDUS.
Arul Kumar