Socio-Political Activism of the Solidarity Youth Movement in Kerala as an Alternative to Secular

Left interventions (?): An Enquiry through Documentary Films

Asha S & Abdul Samad K

Abstract

The Solidarity Youth Movement (SYM), a youth movement of the Jamaat-e-Islami, has been a vibrant
presence in the socio-political life of Kerala, particularly in the last two decades. It has played a
vitally interventionist role in human rights struggles such as the Plachimada agitation, land struggles
in Chengara and Muthanga, anti-imperialist struggles, battle against multinational corporations,
combating state policing and terrorism etc. As the youth wing of an Islamist organization, the
initiatives of SYM have been viewed with suspicion and derision by Islamic as well as secular fronts.
While it has been criticized by Islamic organizations like the Samastha for being “un-Islamic” in its
foregrounding of non-religious issues, the mainstream liberal-secular Left has denounced its
humanitarian projects as a cover for its fundamentalist agenda. In an attempt to engage with these
criticisms, this paper would focus on the SYM’s use of the medium of documentary films as a
promotion of their interventionist politics. Drawing on the insights of post secularist and post
Islamist theorists like Habermas, Jose Casanova, Kohrsen and Asef Bayat, the paper, from a post-
secularist standpoint, would problematise the mainstream liberal-secular branding of the SYM’s
interventions as (neo) fundamentalist. The paper would also try to capture some of the SYM’s
apprehensions and anxieties as a movement struggling to find a space of its own in the secular
domain of Kerala. The documentaries identified for close reading include ‘Resistance of 10 Years’,
‘Varaanirikkunna Vasantham’ (The Spring to come), ‘Viakasanathinte Kinaloor Paadham’
(Development: The Kinaroor Lesson) and ‘Pinne Avar Enne Thedi Vannu’ (Then they Came for me).

Islamism on a transformative path

There is a significant body of contemporary scholarship, which perceives transformative ideological

patterns and currents within Islamist movements across the world, particularly of Iran, Egypt and
Tunisia. Labelled variously as Neo-Islamist, Post-Islamist, Neo-Fundamentalist, Post-Ideologist etc.,
these transformative tendencies – the promotion of pluralism, flexibility and moderation in
theological interpretations, embrace of democracy, emphasis on rights and freedom alongside
observance of faith and duties, openness and lack of hostility to the West and liberal interpretation
of women’s rights, roles and responsibilities, to name a few – have been observed and studied by
academics and intellectuals such as Asef Bayat, Amel Boubekeur, Olivier Roy and Leila Ahmed among
others. However, the Western media, which continues to deploy the term Islamism to designate any
association between violence and Islam, refuses to acknowledge these transformative patterns
within the movement and speaks of it in fixed, ossified terms.

Amel Boubekeur and Olivier Roy, in their book Whatever Happened to the Islamists: Salafis, Heavy
Metal Muslims and the Lure of Consumerist Islam (2012), focus on the ideological and cultural
transformation that Islamism has been through in the post millennium years. The term Post Islamism
is attributed to Asef Bayat, who uses it to designate “the metamorphosis of Islamism (in ideas,
approaches and practices) from within and without.” Bayat holds that Post Islamism does not signal
the end of Islamism and that Post-Islamism is neither anti-Islamic, nor un-Islamic, nor is it secular
(“What is”).
Irfan Ahmad’s Delhi, UP, and Bihar-based field research, conducted between 2001 and 2004, which
covered the cities of Delhi, Aligarh, Rampur, Azamgarh and Patna, perceives the transformative
character of the Islamist organization Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. In his pioneering study on the
transformation of the Jamaat, Islamism and Democracy in India: The Transformation of Jamaat-e-
Islami (2009), Ahmad propounds the thesis that the transformation of Islamism is deeply ideological.
To quote him, the radical goal of the Jamaat “changed from establishing Allah’s Kingdom to
embracing and defending India’s secular democracy” (2). To go further, Ahmad has problems with
the post 9/11 conceptualization of the difference between ‘moderates’ and ‘radicals’ as tactical and
not ideological. From this perspective, moderates are those who “seek to achieve their goal by
accepting the regime within which they work, whereas the radicals wish to achieve their goal by
challenging it” (6) Rather than as a set of fixed, isolated attributes, Ahmad views moderation and
radicalization as dynamic, interconnected processes. To him, the dualism between tactics and
ideology is false. “Tactics spring from and entail a re-evaluation of ideology” (6).
Background of the Study
The Jamaat-e-Islami, founded in 1941 under the leadership of Moulana Abul ala Maududi, is an
Islamist organisation operational mainly in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Like other Islamist
organisations, it maintains that Islam is not just a religion, but a complete system of life and seeks to
establish a social and political system founded upon “true” Islamic principles. Officially, the Jamaat-
e-Islami describes its objective as Iqaamat-e-Deen or ‘establishment of the (Islamic) way of life in all
aspects of life’ with ‘achievement of divine pleasure and success in the Hereafter’ as the sole motive
of the effort (“Constitution”).
Jamaat-e-Islami Kerala Circle (hereafter Jamaat), established in 1948, is part of the Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind (the Jamaat-e-Islami of India). The organisation seeks to create social awareness through its
periodicals and journals like Madhyamam and Prabodhanam, both weekly publications, Bodhanam,
a bi-monthly publication, Aramam, women's monthly, and Malarvadi, children's monthly. The
women's wing, the Solidarity Youth Movement (hereafter SYM), Students' Islamic Organization (SIO),
Girls’ Islamic Organization (GIO), Teen India and Malarvadi Balasangham are subordinate
organizations of the Jamaat. From an organization on the fringes of the Muslim mainstream, the
Jamaat has grown today into the dominant intellectual face of the Muslim community.

Compared to the other Muslim organisations of the state – the Samastha Kerala Jam'eyyat ul-Ulama
(Samastha), the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML, which positions itself as a secular party) and the
Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) – the Jamaat has only a limited support base constituted
largely by the educated, (upper) middle class Muslims. This notwithstanding, the Jamaat is a vibrant
presence in the social and intellectual life of Kerala, particularly in the northern districts of
Malappuram and Kozhikode. Jamaat activists and supporters organise and actively take part in
discussions on socio-political developments of contemporary significance.
Both the Samastha and the KNM distance themselves from the Jamaat, whose mixing of politics with
religion, they view as un-Islamic. The IUML, Samastha and the KNM are vehemently critical of the
organisation’s distrust of and distancing from the foundational principles/features of Indian polity
such as democracy, secularism and electoral politics. The anti-democratic, anti-secular positions the
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind embraced in the initial years has stigmatised the organisation as a fascist outfit,
leading to denunciations that it is the Islamic counterpart of the RSS and the Sangh Parivar,
organisations advocating a virulent Hindutva politics.
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has diluted its stance against secularism in later years, deciding to contest
the election, in open abandonment of the teachings of its ideological founder, Maududi. The
statement made by Arif Ali, the Vice President of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (and the former
President) in a press meet held in Kozhikode on 21st May 2010, testifies to the transformative
character of the organisation. Arif Ali said: “Jamaat-e-Islami has enormous obligation to Abul ala
Maududi, as he is the founder of the organisation. At the same time, the organisation is founded
neither on his writings nor on his vision. Instead it is founded on the Quran and the Hadith. We
wanted to make this clear since a long time and now we are doing it”.
Solidarity Youth Movement (SYM)

SYM, the Calicut-based youth wing of the Jamaat Kerala Circle, was founded on 13 May 2013. Since
its inception, the SYM has been involved in intellectual discussions on a wide variety of religious as
well as secular subjects, organises a host of social welfare programmes, and participates actively in
people’s and civil rights movements, as part of mobilising public opinion against the violation of the
basic rights of marginalised and dispossessed groups like the Dalits and Adivasis, against the anti-
people policies of the government, fascism, capitalism, imperialism, corporatization etc.

SYM announces its objective thus: to "liberate the generation of youths from moral bankruptcy and
debauchery and to transform them into a radical vanguard fighting for the betterment of society".
The motto of SYM, announced in its first state conference held at Palakkad in 2005, by the state amir
of the Jamaat is: ‘service through strife, strife through service’ (“Solidarity”). KK Basheer, SYM’s
former Public Relations Secretary, says: “We work closely with non-Muslim groups in Kerala,
particularly leftists, who are concerned about similar social causes” (qtd in Sikand). Basheer also
observes that the SYM’s example has inspired the Muslim youth associated with the Jamaat to move
beyond issues that are narrowly framed as Islamic or Muslim.

Former SYM State President, T Muhammad Velam, sums up the inspiration behind its social activism
thus: ‘Bring religious ethics onto the secular public sphere and take public issues into religion, thus
reforming both religion as well as secularism’ (“Special correspondent”).

The movement was actively involved in agitations related to Plachimada, Kathikkudam, Kudamkulam
Endosulphan, Kinaloor, Moolampally etc. It has lent support to tribal struggles for land reforms to
distribute land to the adivasi groups at Chengara, Mukkaal Cent Colony in Kollam district, and
Elamkulam colony in Ernakulam district. It has also undertaken rehabilitation projects for endosulfan
victims and the Sunrise Kochi, urban rebuilding project for the slum infested West Kochi and
launched a Symbolic Road Construction movement in protest against the Government’s attempt to
yield the roads to corporate companies in the name of Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) system.

The 10-odd book length publications of the SYM – Vikasanam, Paristhithi, Agola Muthalalaitham
(Development, Environment and Global Capitalism), Aanava Karar: Akavum, Porululm (Nuclear Deal:
The Inside Story) and Chengara: Ikyadardhyapusthakam (Book on Chengara Solidarity), to mention a
few – and the innumerable rallies and demonstrations it has organised on issues of civic concern
testify to the activist priorities of the Movement.

Argument
Since the 1980s, a new civil society has emerged in Kerala, constituted by Dalits, minorities, women’s
movements, sexual minorities, environmental activists etc. TT Sreekumar (Civil Samoohavum), KK
Kochu and others, have cited the dissolution of the Left since the 1970s and its failure to address
questions of caste, religion and gender as the major catalytic factor behind the emergence of the
new civil society in Kerala. SYM has joined this front only recently, but has been instrumental in
moulding civic consciousness about issues of vital concern to the society and environment. Locating
the Jamaat and its ancillary organizations in the interventionist trajectory of this new civil society,
the paper argues that the socio-political activism of the SYM evidences a shift in the strategies,
priorities and key concerns of the Jamaat in Kerala. The shift is examined mainly through the
documentary films produced by the SYM on the civic concerns it has taken up/participated in.
As the youth wing of an Islamist organization, the active involvement of SYM in the human rights,
environmental and post development struggles and resistance movements in Kerala have been
viewed with suspicion and derision by Islamic as well as secular fronts. While it has been criticized by
Islamic organizations like the Samastha for being “un-Islamic” in its foregrounding of non-religious
issues, the mainstream liberal-secular Left has denounced its humanitarian projects as a cover for its
parent organization’s fundamentalist agenda. Drawing on the insights of post secularist and post
Islamist theorists like Habermas, Jose Casanova, Kohrsen and Asef Bayat, the paper, from a post-
secularist standpoint, would problematise the mainstream liberal-secular branding of the SYM’s
interventions as (neo) fundamentalist. The paper would also try to capture some of the SYM’s
apprehensions and anxieties as a movement struggling to find a space of its own in the ‘secular’
domain of Kerala.

Social Activism of Islamist Movements: Post Secularist Perspective

Post-secular society is characterized by “the continued existence of religious communities in an

increasingly secularized environment” (Habermas 2009:63). Arguing that the age of post secularity
has begun, Habermas recommends that post-secular societies should facilitate religious
contributions to the public sphere. According to him, religious reasoning could contribute to public
debates about the ethical values of contemporaneous and future societies. However, they should
undergo a neutralisation of language to facilitate this participation (qtd. in Kohrsen 276). Jose
Casanova, in his ground-breaking book Public Religions in the Modern World (1994), coins the term
‘public religion’ to refer to religion or religious organizations participating effectively in the public
sphere of modern societies (qtd. in Kohrsen 275). Talal Asad is suspicious of universal definitions of
religion: “My problem with universal definitions of religion is that by insisting on an essential
singularity, they divert us from asking questions about what the definition includes and what it
excludes—how, by whom, for what purpose, and so on” (Asad 220) He emphasizes the adverbial
function of religion i.e., the role of action as crucial in understanding religion.

The point I would stress is not merely that religion and the secular interpenetrate, but that
(a) both are historically constituted, (b) this happens through accidental processes bringing
together a variety of concepts, practices, and sensibilities, and (c) in modern society the law
is crucially involved in defining and defending the distinctiveness of social spaces—especially
the legitimate space for religion (Asad 209).

Asef Bayat notes that Islamist movements are often presented as highly homogenous and coherent
social units which are to be identified by the discourse of their ideologues and that Islamist activism
has, till recently, been excluded from the mode of enquiry developed by social movement theorists
in the West (“Islamism” 890-91). Bayat calls for a more fluid and fragmented vision of social
movements and introduces the concept of “imagined solidarities” as a useful mode to explain the
way in which solidarities are formed in Islamic activism. Bayat observes that Bernard Lewis and
Samuel Huntington categorise Islamist activism as anti-democratic and anti-modern (“Islamism”
894). Touraine, with his normative notion of social movements as ‘positive’ and ‘progressive’,
characterises Islamism as ‘anti-movement’ (Bayat “Islamism” 894). For Bayat, a social movement is
not a thing, it is primarily a process and should be studied as a historical process in a span of time
(“Islamism” 897). It is this fluid, and dialectical approach that we recommend for reading the
activism of the SYM, moving away from monolithic discourses of Islamic fundamentalism.

Documentary Films – Showcasing the SYM activism

The SYM’s self-awareness of its public perception as the youth outfit of a Muslim ‘fundamentalist’
organization explains its attempts to project its secular character, both in its activism and its
documentary promotion of the same.

For the purposes of our study, we categorise the documentary films made under the banner of the
SYM, broadly into three. First, those in the activist mode, made on the social, environmental and
human rights issues SYM has expressed solidarity with or has actively taken up. These include
‘Viakasanathinte Kinaloor Paadham’ [Development: The Kinaroor Lesson], ‘Theerangalil Thee
Padarum Munpe’ [Before Fire Engulfs the Shores] and Aviveka Paatha [The Highway of
Injudiciousness]. These films educate the people about the issues they feature – incidence of human
rights violation, what multi-national corporations do to the people and environment, the lopsided
social and economic priorities of the government and its indifference to the daily struggles of the
underprivileged who are displaced from their land and homes in the name of development. These
films at times assume a mildly propagandist character, showcasing the social interventionism of the
Movement and its own self-projection as a committed, responsible, vibrant youth organization. As a
more manifest illustration of the Movement’s self-perception, we consider ‘Venalum Kazhinju’ [After
Summer], ‘Porattangalude Pathu Varshangal’ [Resistance of 10 Years]and ‘Aikyadardhyam’
[Solidarity], all produced by the SYM, together featuring the SYM’s relevance as a youth movement
in Kerala, its ideological inspiration and activist interventions. The last two documentaries we take
up – ‘Fabricated’ and ‘Then they came for Me’– we consider a class by themselves as films bearing
special relevance to the SYM and the Jamaat’s raison d'être as identity politics movements. Not one
of these films deals with an explicitly religious theme. Even ‘Fabricated’ and ‘Then they Came for Me’
– the two films on the imprisonment and detention without proper trial of people (mostly Muslims)
arrested under UAPA on fabricated charges of aiding/abetting terrorist/anti-state activities – do not
approach the issue as a Muslim minority one. The arrest and custodial torture of Muslims, though
constituting the prime focus of the films, is seen alongside that of Maoists, Dalits and human rights
activists, as an instance of the operation of state terror and the abuse of state machinery to
crush/stifle voices of dissent or simply to eliminate those it would gladly see disposed of. The
religious character and priorities of the organization appear in the films less as an ideological
discussion than as an ethics of humanitarianism that propels the activism of the movement.

‘Theerangalil Thee Padarum Munpe’ takes up issues like the excessive exploitation of marine
resources, the tourist and industrialist sectors eying the resources of the sea and the shore, the
exploitation of labour of the fisher folk, the feared eviction of coastal dwellers, the onset of sex
tourism etc. The narrator speaks in the language of a believer when he describes the shore – where
the sea and the land meet – as standing testimony to the countless miracles of creation. A benign,
humanist tone characterises the film. The moral concerns of the SYM are also in evidence in the
apprehensions the film raises through a fisherwoman of their children falling prey to sex tourism and
their culture being vandalised. The film concludes expressing hope in the widespread people’s
protests and agitations to protect the coastal areas and its helpless dwellers. However, the film
shows only the SYM-organised agitations, leaving one to wonder about the role of the rest of the
civil society, particularly the fishing community itself.

‘Aviveka Patha’ is a film that views the Express Highway Project as a pernicious Govt. move that
would denude Kerala, once known for its luscious greenery, of its remaining natural resources and
bio-diversity. The clippings of the news reports show that the Youth League, DYFI and Kerala Sasthra
Sahitya Parishad, share the SYM’s opposition to the project. Through interviews with the common
people of Poovattuparambu in Malappuram, the film captures the haplessness of the poor and
affected people who reiterate that the highway can be built only over their dead bodies. The film
uses the technique of evidentiary editing to expose the hollowness of the govt. promise to
rehabilitate the people decently by cutting onto earlier examples of the Govt. injustice to people
displaced in the name of various developmental projects – the Nedumbassery Airport construction
and the BOT-based railway overbridge project (later abandoned) in Ernakulam. The concerns the film
raises are humanist, environmental and political. SYM explains its position on developmental
projects unambiguously – it is not against development, but is fiercely opposed to any
developmental project that is against the people. 1

We see ‘Vikasanathinte Kinaloor Padham’ as a film that is especially relevant for our study for the
media hype around the SYM’s involvement in the Kinaloor struggle and its alleged role in the violent
turn the struggle eventually took. Rahmathulla, President of the Kinaloor Jana Jagratha Samithi, rues
what he regards as the then Industries Minister, Mr. Elamanam Kareem’s overplaying of the role of
the SYM in the Kinaloor agitation. The sincerity of the SYM in the issue itself comes under cloud, as
CR Neelakantan alleges, when we consider the Jamaat’s decision to support the CPI(M) in the
following Assembly election; this, Neelakantan says, accounted for the later expulsion of SYM from
the Samara Samithi. The film does document the struggle as the initiative of the people of the region
(who formed the collective, the Jana Jagratha Samithi) and does not overplay the role of the SYM. It
also exposes the hypocrisy, insincerity and insensitivity of the Govt. and its collusion with the land
mafia. The vagueness surrounding the nature of the industrial projects to come up in Kinaloor, hints
at the hand of the land mafia. The film unambiguously marks SYM’s stance on post developmental
politics. This film also deploys a persuasive rhetoric in its attempt at self-defence against vilification
campaigns by the Left. That it does not go into the details of the campaign is a sign of the (localised)
audience it targets. It may be noted that all these activist films were meant to be screened as part of
the campaigns of the SYM in the respective agitations and hence lack aesthetic subtlety.

‘Aikyadardhyam’ (Solidarity), focuses the camera on a series of human rights violations issues such
as the plight of the endosulfan victims, the suffering of the people evicted from their homes for the
Vallarppaadam Container Terminal project, the land agitations by Adivasis and Dalits in Muthanga
and Chengara, rampant consumerism and alcoholism of the Malayali youth and ends each with the
rhetorical question – Where are the energetic, socially committed youth of Kerala? As the answer to
the question is shown the emergence of the SYM, its rehabilitation projects and other humanitarian
initiatives. The message is clear. SYM was the need of the hour. The film invokes the language of
compassion, justice, righteousness and humanism, which Islam espouses.

‘Venalum Kazhinju’ as a film that has the SYM itself as its subject, blurs the boundary between fiction
and non-fiction film. There is both a narrative organization around two characters and the rhetorical
treatment of a central argument. An SYM activist visits a middle-aged man, visibly disillusioned with
the revolutionary ideology of the Left with which he was associated in his youth, and offers as an
alternative the SYM, which draws its inspiration from the principles of Islam. The two characters are
not given a voice; it is the omniscient narrator who gives voice to them. The film draws a black and
white distinction between Islam and Marxism. The Marxian critique of private property is shown as
anti-human against the Islamic ideal of property as a God-given boon. Islam calls for a reform in the
attitude of the property owner, rather than condemn the very institution of private property. The
Leftist revolutions are condemned as blood and gore struggles; the youth organizations of
mainstream political parties are branded as failures, having ended up as mere stooges of their
patrons in the parent organizations. The film ends with the unambiguous announcement: You may
support or criticise the SYM, but you cannot ignore it. The former Left-wing comrade in the film is
visibly won over; the persuasive rhetoric is intended at the audience too. The film makes a sustained
though simplistic use of the imagery of light and darkness, to represent the SYM, inspired by the
philosophy of peace, compassion and humanism of Islam and the violence-driven youth outfits of
mainstream political organizations/the de-politicised, consumerist, alcoholic youth of Kerala
respectively.
‘Resistance of Ten Years’ is a film that documents the activism of the SYM on the occasion of its
tenth anniversary. The film uses English subtitles, suggesting the wider audience it targeted. It is
dedicated to C Sarat Chandran, the documentary film maker, “who travelled with the marginalised
people and strengthened their struggle for justice.” It richly uses as title cards Quranic verses urging
believers to fight for justice: “And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah,
and for those ill-treated and oppressed among men, women and children?” (4:75); “O you who
believe! Stand out firmly for Allah and be just witnesses and let not the enmity and hatred of others
make you avoid justice” (5:8) These verses and the observations of KEN and KP Sasi clearly mark the
SYM as an Islamic Liberation Theology movement.

The film offers diverse viewpoints – of journalists, historians, writers, academicians and activists
(left-wing, Dalit, human rights and Muslim) on the objectives, activities and context of emergence of
the SYM. The visuals document the commitment of the SYM to the land, water, environment, Dalit,
Adivasi and human rights politics of the State – its involvement in the land struggles of Chengara and
Muthanga, the anti-coca cola agitations at Plachimada, the Kathikkudam struggle against the Nitta
Gelatin India Ltd., the endosulfan issue, Koodankulam anti-nuclear movement etc. Affected people
and leaders and activists of various struggles endorse the humanitarian service of the SYM. The film
also gives space, though marginally, to alternative and critical voices. Major criticisms raised against
the Movement are that it does not have the backing of the secular public and that it is an all-male
organization. The secular criticisms (like those by Civic Chandran and Hameed Chennamngalur) are
presented through the mediating voice of the narrator labelling them as part of a strategy of
mainstream excommunication of SYM. The technique of emotional appeal is resorted to when the
film makes a beneficiary of the SYM Endosulfan relief and rehabilitation project speak in a tear-
choked voice on how the mainstream Kerala society has branded it as a terrorist organization. The
visual of a banner implying connections of the Movement with the banned Islamist outfit SIMI,
reflects the SYM’s own apprehensions about its public perception. This apprehension is to be read
along with the remarks of T Arif Ali, expressed in an interview that the organization would find it
difficult to survive yet another ban (which would be the third in its history – the first during the
Emergency and the second after the Babri Masjid demolition).

It is this secular public perception and the fear of the deployment of state power that we see as
being at the root of the reluctance of the SYM leaders (T Shakir and Samad Kunnakkavu) we spoke
to, to describe the SYM as a Muslim identity politics group (despite their underscoring the relevance
of identity politics movements today).‘Fabricated’ and ‘Then they Came for Me’ are films that deal
with the theme of state terror evidenced in the arrest, imprisonment and detention without trial
(which drags on interminably) of Muslims, Dalits and Maoists by clamping on them draconian laws
like UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). ‘Fabricated’ focusses on the case of Abdul Nasar
Madani, the PDP (People’s Democratic Party) leader, who was falsely implicated and put behind bars
for nine and a half years in the 1998 Koimbatore blast case and is still languishing in jail on charges of
conspiracy in the 2008 Bangalore blast case. ‘Then they came for me’ documents the undertrial
cases of several Muslim youth in Kerala since 2000. Nevertheless, we feel that the two films shy
away from casting the issue as one of Muslim identity politics and tag it along with cases of the
clamping of UAPA on other subject groups such as the Dalits and Maoists. C Dawood’s comments on
Islamophobia in ‘Then they came for me’ remain an isolated perspective in the film. Interestingly,
this perspective comes off more manifestly in some of the leaflets published by the Movement.
Incidentally, ‘Fabricated’ and ‘Then they Came for Me’ are films that were (and are being) screened
across India.
Drawing on Jens Kohrsen’s observations about the religious actors’ non-deployment of religious
concepts while participating in public debates or involving in the public sphere, we argue that the
SYM shies away from affirming its religious character in its interventions in the public sphere. Jens
Kohrsen attributes this non-religious communication of religious organizations/groups to the
secularization of the political public sphere of western Europe, wherein religious reasoning is not
considered the appropriate form of communication. Kohrsen concludes that religious organizations
adapt to the secularity of public debates by communicating in a non-religious way, thereby
improving their chances of being heard and acknowledged in public debates (279). The SYM’s
playing down of its self-positioning as a Muslim identity group, may be attributed to the bogey of
Islamic terrorism and Muslim fundamentalism particularly in the post 9/11 global context, and to the
fact that the ideological shadow of the Jamaat founder Maududi’s branding of the Western
institutions of secularism and democracy as anathema to Islam and Muslims, recurs in secularist and
ultra-secularist critiques of the Jamaat and the SYM.

“Imagined Solidarity” with Dalits, Adivasis and Maoists

The participants in a social movement, Asef Bayat argues, often espouse not totally shared, but
‘partially shared’ interests.

Unlike the 19th century working class movements which enjoyed … the ‘synchronic unity of
subject positions’ (that is, convergence of total interests), participants in the contemporary social
movements come from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and do not in that sense form a
coherent unit. Yet certain fields of their interests and values may convergeover a particular issue or
grievance. And it is these ‘partially shared’ interests or values (in addition to other requisites) that
ensure collectivity (“Islamism” 902).

In this section, we use Bayat’s concept of “imagined solidarities” to analyse the SYM’s functional
alliance with as heterogeneous social movement actors as Dalits, Adivasis and Maoists. This imagined
solidarity, argues Bayat, works more as a ‘frame alignment or consensus mobilisation’ than a
deliberate coalition building (Bayat “Islamism” 902). What the SYM attempts is to reach out to
people with similar grievances. The disillusionment with the Left, perceiving it as a failure in
addressing the exploitation based on caste and religion, the experience of victimisation and torture
engineered and perpetrated by the Hindutva outfits on Dalits and religious minorities, the
ideological opposition to capitalism, imperialism and globalisation are some of the common grounds
facilitating the forging of an imagined solidarity. Nevertheless, we have strong reservations about
the possibility of an enduring alliance among these identity groups. The premise of this reservation is
that the Muslim organizations themselves continue to hold onto their conviction that their
respective interpretations (understanding) of Islam are the pure, authoritative ones, rendering the
forging of even intra-group solidarities difficult, if not impossible.

A significant distinction need to be made between the Dalits and the SYM, who are the key
constituents of the new civil society collective. While the former foreground caste-based
discrimination, exploitation and oppression as the prime rationale for their activism, the latter
manifests a confusion of priorities. The struggles, agitations and demonstrations the SYM has been
part of – the Endosulfan, Koodamkulam, Kathikkudam, Kinaloor, Chengara and Paliyekkara, among
others – have been launched originally by affected groups, with which the SYM later expressed
solidarity and extended support, inviting criticism mainly from the secular Left camp that it has
hijacked ‘agitations’ launched by other groups. That a religious organization is as justified as a
secular group in participating in issues of civic concern is indisputable; nevertheless, it must also be
admitted that it raises valid doubts about the uniqueness and authenticity the movement claims,
distinct from its left-wing counterparts. How far can a youth outfit of an Islamist organization de-
prioritise questions of religion and religious reform? If its priorities, idiom, slogan (Inqilab Sindabad),
mode of operation and strategies strongly resemble those of the Left, does it evidence an ideological
and functional dissonance between the Jamaat and the SYM? Or is it that the parent organization
has appropriated to itself the right to fix its agendas and mode of engagement with religion and
delegates to its ancillary wings respective functions, focus and concerns, which remain seemingly
unconnected?

SYM – Post Left or Post Islam?

The transformative patterns within the Jamaat in Kerala, which have received condemnation as well
as approbation, are read particularly in relation to the ‘secular’ interventions of the SYM. Prominent
intellectuals, academicians, critics, representatives of Muslim organizations and leaders of major
political parties – TT Sreekumar, CR Neelakantan, J Devika, Hamid Chennamangalur, MN Karassery,
Civic Chandran, MM Shinaz, AP Kunjamu, Nuaiman, KM Shaji and several others – have perceived
and/or studied the secular-democratic turn of the Jamaat and the activities of the SYM as
representative of the shift. While some analysts view the shifts in the Jamaat’s goals and priorities as
emblematic of a (progressive) shift towards moderation, others are sceptical and even dismissive of
them as mere tactical moves aiming at securing greater political space.

The SYM has roped in academicians, intellectuals, critics, social activists, film makers, literary figures
etc. – Kancha Ilaiya, TT Sreekumar, J Devika, CR Neelakantan, Sugathakumari, KP Sasi, Zachariya, to
name a few – to speak on its platforms, write in their publications and/or endorse its humanistic
projects and socio-political activism. Speaking on the occasion of the social auditing the SYM
organized as part of its tenth anniversary observance, TT Sreekumar compliments the movement on
its accountability to the society, describing its decision to go for an auditing as an open
announcement of its willingness to view more fairly and objectively its activities, style of functioning,
organizational structure and management, its impact on people etc. Observing that the SYM’s
activities have brought in positive changes to the civil society politics of Kerala, he urges its activists
to sustain the same by maintaining a political broad-mindedness, an attitude of openness and
tolerance towards other religions, organizations, civil society groups, political ideologies etc.
("Solidarity"). CR Neelakantan, while hailing the SYM’s philanthropic services to the affected in
Moolampally and its support for the agitations in Kinaloor, Chengara, Paliyekkara and others, is
critical of the SYM’s betrayal of the Kinaloor struggle through its decision to support the CPI(M) in
the 2011 Assembly Elections. He also has differences with the Pan-Islamic identity it espouses,
though he recognizes the right of a Muslim (individual or group) to voice dissent against
discrimination or intolerance in the name of religion ("Janakeeya Samarangalude").

Hameed Chennamangalur is virulent and vituperative in his attack on the Jamaat and the SYM.
Condemning the social activism of the SYM as being largely exhibitionist in character, he says its
major capital is rhetoric and not sincerity to the causes it supports (183-186). In her sharp response
(“And now fears of Intellectual Jihad”) to what she calls Hameed’s “wholesale condemnation”,
Devika observes that in contemporary Malayali society, “the distinctions between the Left and the
Right have all but disappeared” and that the Left has transmogrified into the Right” and castigates
the “state-and-party bullying in favour of neo-liberal predators” in Kinaloor. That she writes in the
Madhyamam does not mean she subscribes to the organization’s views. She even “refused to write
in Madhyamam in protest against the despicably casteist tone of some articles they had published
that rubbished Nalini’s work (Nalini Jameela, the Malayalee sex worker, whose autobiography, The
Autobiography of a Sex Worker, published in 2005, stirred a hornet’s nest) and fought hard to push
her back into the state of abjection from which she had escaped” and resumed it in the context of
the venomous love jihad campaign and the role of the so-called liberal press in uncritically
promoting it.

The criticism of the movement raised by Muslim organizations like the Samastha would appear to
legitimise some of the questions we have raised at the end of the previous section. AP Kunjamu
characterises the SYM as the ‘Islamic edition of Liberation Theology’. Attempting a comparative
analysis of the Sunni Students Federation (SSF) and the SYM, Nuaiman holds that while the former
has grown inward, catalysing reform of Islam and the community, the latter has borrowed the idiom
of the Left and emulated its activism and thus grown out of the fold of Islam. He criticises the SYM as
‘post Islam Left rather than post Left Islam’.

Conclusion

SYM is an evolving organization. The post 9/11 global and the post-Babri Masjid Indian context of
pronounced Islamophobia, the intra and inter group dynamics of Muslim organizations in Kerala, the
visible mobilisation of identity politics groups since the 1980s and the emergence of micro spaces as
sites of socio-political dissent - these, among others, constitute the global and local context wherein
the SYM struggles for an activist space of its own. As an Islamist youth movement, the SYM must
contend with the bogey of Islamic terrorism and fundamentalism more than ever before and the
shadow of the Jamaat’s original identity as an organization founded with the objective of the
establishment of an Islamic state. This apprehension about its public perception by the largely Left-
leaning social psyche of Kerala would explain the anxieties, ambivalences and confusion of priorities
the movement betrays at times.

Already in the second decade of its inception, the SYM has to move beyond rhetoric and catchy
slogans to a distinctive mode of Islamist activism, beyond serving as an alternative to the Left.
Besides, its solidarity with identity politics groups remains limited and selective; it does not include
in the alliance women’s rights groups, sexual minorities, sex workers etc. A significant question we
raise is how far is it potent as a counter voice within the Islamist politics of the Jamaat? The different
stance the SYM took in the recommendation the Jamaat (central unit) submitted before Justice
Verma Committee was noted and occasioned the criticism from within Muslim organizations that it
is moving away from Islamic principles.2 However, more serious enquiries and self-scrutiny are to be
made on the organization’s positions on questions of compatibility between Islam and women’s
rights, Islam and democracy etc. Some initiatives are of course being made, but it still must go a long
way forward.

Having harnessed the activist potentialities of street theatre, the SYM has of late recognized the
reach and persuasive appeal of documentary films as a compelling mode of activist politics and
persuasion. Like the Islamist organizations the world over, the SYM has harnessed artistic and
cultural mediums such as audio drama, music video, home cinema and rock albums. The two music
albums produced by Muhsin Pyari (former SIO activist, who currently associates with the
documentary projects of the SYM) – “Native Bapa” and “The Funeral of a Native Son” – through a
poignant interplay of humour and pathos feature the anguish and dilemma of the family of a Muslim
youth, arrested on fabricated charges of terrorism. The Islamophobic character of the state is more
in evidence in the album, unlike in the documentary films on the same theme – ‘Fabricated’ and
‘Then they Came for Me’ – where it is not so pronounced. It may be remembered here that the two
films are meant for nation-wide screening and aim at heterogeneous audiences. If an Islamist outfit
is wary of identifying itself in the ‘secular’ public sphere as a Muslim identity politics group, it is more
a failure of the secular public consciousness than an inability of the religious minority group to
adapt.

Notes
1.
See “Vikasanathinte Viplavabhashyam” by Kuttil Muhammadali, the founding State
President of the SYM, for details of the Movement’s perspective on development. In
contradistinction to both the capitalist and communist perspective on development, he
says, Islam views development as balanced and sustained.
2.
The Jamaat e Islami submitted a recommendation to Justice Verma Ccommittee (appointed
following the Delhi gang rape, with the objective of re-invigorating anti-rape law) to abolish
co-education and set up education facilities exclusively for women. The SYM distanced itself
from this stand and was openly critical of it.

Works Cited

Ahmad, Irfan. Islamism and Democracy in India: The Transformation of Jamaat-e-Islami.

Princeton UP, 2009.

Ahmed, Leila. A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence, from the Middle East to America.
Yale UP, 2012.

Ali, Arif. “Jamaat-e-Islami – 1.” Kairali Channel, 22 May 2010. ww.youtube.com/watch?

v=0RWHbawovUI, Accessed 15 September 2015.
Asad, Talal. “Reading a Modern Classic: W. C. Smith's "The Meaning and End of Religion".
History of Religions vol. 40, no. 3, 2001, pp. 205-222, www.jstor.org/stable/3176697,
Accessed 17 April 2012.
Bayat, Asef. “What is Post-Islamism?” ISIM Review, vol. 16, 2005. www.
openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/17030/ISIM-16-What_is-post?
sequence=1, Accessed 03 January 2016.

Bayat, Asef “Islamism and Social Movement Theory.” Third World Quarterly, vol.26, no. 6,
2005, pp. 891-908. ww.courses.arch.vt.edu/courses/wdunaway/gia5274/bayat.pdf,
Accessed 11 January 2017.

Boubekeur, Amel and Olivier Roy. Whatever Happened to the Islamists?: Salafis, Heavy
Metal
Muslims and the Lure of Consumerist Islam. C Hurst, 2012.

Chennamangalur, Hamid. Daivathinte Rashtreeyam. Mathrubhumi, 2011.

Devika, J. “And Now, Fears of ‘Intellectual Jihad’!” Kafila, 29 May 2010,

kafila. online/2010/05/29/and-now-fears-of-intellectual-jihad/, Accessed 25 Sept.
2011.

Filippo Osella and Caroline Osella, “Islamism and Social Reform in Kerala's South India.”
Modern Asian Studies, vol. 42, no. 2/3, 2008, pp. 317-346.
eprints.soas.ac.uk/5176/1/osella_ModAsianStuds.PDF, Accessed 17 June 2010.
Habermas, Jürgen. “Notes on Post-Secular Society. ” New Perspectives Quarterly vol.25,
no. 4, 2008, pp. 17-29, doi:10.1111/j.1540-5842. 2008.01017.x, Accessed 20
January 2017.

Haleem, A A, editor. Vikasanam, Paristhithi, Agola Muthalalitham. Solidarity Youth

Movement, 2007.

Kohrsen, Jens. “How religious is the public sphere? A critical stance on the debate about
Public religion and post-secularity.” Acta Sociologica, vol. 55. no.3, 2012, pp. 273-
288, www.journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0001699312445809, Accessed 25
January 2017.

Kochu, KK. Idathupakshamillaatha Kaalam. DC, 2015.

Kunjamu, A P. "Solidaritiyude Pathu Varshangal" Padhabhedam, vol. 4, no. 1, April

2013, pp. 44-46.

Muhammed T, editor. Chengara: Ikyadardhyapusthakam. Solidarity Youth Movement,

2009.

Muhammadali, Kuttil “Vikasanathinte Viplavabhashyam”. Vikasanam, Paristhithi,

Agola Muthalalitham. Ed. Haleem, A A. Solidarity Youth Movement, 2007, pp. 25-35.

Neelakantan, CR. "Janakeeya Samarangalude Rashtreeya Rupeekaranam: Sangeernathakal,

Sadhyathakal." Interview by Admin, 14 September 2013,
keraleeyamweb.blogspot.in/2013/09/blog-post_14.html, Accessed 31 October
2014.

Nuaiman. "Idatupakshananthara Islamo Islamanantara Idatupakshamo?" Padhabhedam,

vol. 5, no. 1, May 2013, pp. 36-37.

Scott, David and Charles Hirschkind, editors. Powers of the Secular Modern: Talal Asad and
HisInterlocutors. Stanford UP, 2006.
Shakir, T and Samad Kunnakkavu. Personal Interview. 09 Jan. 2017.

Sikand, Yoginder. “Socially-engaged Islam: A view from Kerala.” Two Circles, 12 March 2009.
www.twocircles.net/2009mar11/socially_engaged_islam_view_kerala.html,
Accessed 13 December 2016.

Sreekumar, TT. “Civil Samoohavum Idathupakshavum.”

www.puzha.com/malayalam/bookstore/content/books/html/utf8/5459.html,
Accessed 10 Jan. 2017.

---. "Solidarity Tenth Annual Inaugural Address". Madhyamam, 20 May 2013,

www.ttsreekumar.net/2013/05/294, Accessed 15 November 2016.

Solidarity Youth Movement Kerala. Facebook,

www.facebook.com/pg/solidarityym.kerala/about/?section=hours&tab=page_info.
 Accessed 25 February 2015.

Solidarity Youth Movement. “Venalum Kazhinju.” YouTube, 6 Dec. 2009,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrBEMkTnXFA&t=97s.

Solidarity Youth Movement. “Theerangalil Thee Padarum Mumbe.” YouTube, 6 Jan. 2010,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDm4xeo_ZIw.

Solidarity Youth Movement. “Vikasanathinte Kinaloor Padham.” YouTube, 20 May 2010,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1FIOXciV70&t=71s.

Solidarity Youth Movement. “Aviveka Patha.” YouTube, 11 Feb. 2012,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP46uy0EIl4&t=515s.

Solidarity Youth Movement. “Fabricated.” YouTube, 8 Apr. 2014.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0eVXOZnpKg.

Solidarity Youth Movement. “Aikyadartyam.” YouTube, 19 July 2016.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alx5BtN5tlw&t=131s

Solidarity Youth Movement. “Resistance of 10 Years.” YouTube, 18 Sep. 2016,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KiPKpekblg&t=552s.

Solidarity Youth Movement. “Then they Came for Me.” YouTube, 27 Oct. 2016,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED_AhzGazTU.

“Special Correspondent on Solidarity Youth Movement” YouTube, 31 May 2013.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=puyhA5e8Sn8.

“The Constitution of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.” Jamaat e Islami

Hind, jamaateislamihind.org/eng/about-jamaat/constitution/.