What lynching of tribal man says about Kerala
The lynching of Madhu, a 27-year-old tribal in Kerala's Attapadi, has shaken the conscience of the state. People across the country have taken to social media to express outrage and horror over the fact that such a ghastly incident could occur in a state that prides itself on being the torchbearer of literacy and that fairs well on most social indices.
The post-mortem conducted on Saturday revealed multiple internal injuries, including broken ribs. All 16 people allegedly involved in the crime have been arrested. The Kerala government has also announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of Madhu.
Madhu had been living in a cave in the forest for years after a fatal head injury left him mentally unsound. On Friday, his cave was raided by some people who accused him of stealing ration and conducted a public trial and thrashed him and even took selfies before handing him over to the police. The police had let go of the perpetrators and Madhu died while he was being taken to the police station. It is also alleged that forest officials connived with the perpetrators and let them into the forest illegally for them to storm Madhu's cave and ransack the place as he was getting ready to prepare a meal. This raises serious questions on the culpability of the district administration.
More importantly, Madhu's lynching is a symptom of a sickness that has begun to afflict the Kerala society at large. In recent days, an avalanche of WhatsApp forwards have been circulating about child snatchers and traffickers that eventually led to the targeting of migrants, sexual minorities and even roadside beggars.
A black sticker hoax also went on for a few days despite police busting that theory officially. Rumours had been circulated that child snatchers would target the homes with children by pasting black stickers on the window panes to mark them. Many people assumed the story to be true and resorted to taking the law in their hands in various parts of Kerala. The situation diffused only after some glass manufacturers confirmed that these stickers were used in shops to prevent damage when stacked together. Even after Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and police chief Loknath Behera addressed press conferences to allay fears, the nonsense continued to proliferate.
What is shocking is that most of these WhatsApp forwards were being shared by educated folks since it subscribes to their stereotypes. A large section of Kerala society is deeply prejudiced towards the migrants and sexual minorities. There are some four million migrants in the state from West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and other states doing all kinds of jobs without whom the state would come to a grinding halt.
Most of the prejudice is manufactured at home and it is scary to imagine how children fed on such hatred will deal with it. While some people point to the horrific rape and murder of Jisha involving an Assam native as a watershed, it can hardly justify such generalisations.
The prejudice is also stoked by an inherent superiority complex prevailing among Malayalis who look down upon migrants as lesser mortals. This is deeply hypocritical for a society that thrives on remittances from the "Gulf" and do not hesitate to migrate to any remote corner of the world in search of opportunities.
In fact, the sad state of affairs of the tribal settlements in Attappadi itself is a result of internal migration in Kerala but that is another story. A common refrain among the so-called literate Malayalis is how the migrants are "unwashed" and how they sport dishevelled hair unlike their neatly oiled and combed hair.
An even bigger problem is moral policing. A transgender being beaten up and stripped on mere suspicion in a city like Thiruvananthapuram should have rung alarm bells but people weren't sufficiently outraged. Many assume it is alright to take the law into their hands uphold their own sense of morality. Morality is subjective but people hardly get that, especially as part of a mob.
In fact, I was appalled to notice "Pink police" in Kochi harassing couples shortly after sundown in Marine drive last month. It isn't clear if moral policing also comes under the purview of law and order and if they were preventing crimes by harassing such couples.
Along with moral policing, the deep-seated prejudice against migrants, sexual minorities and the marginalised has contributed to creating a climate of intolerance. Would Madhu be subjected to such brutality if his identity were different?
Coming back to Madhu, the tribal settlements in Attapadi is an anomaly in Kerala with its impressive human development indices. The infant mortality rate (IMR) in the state as a whole is 10 but it remains a worryingly high 66 in this block. A lot of money has been earmarked and spent on them since 1996 but most of this money has not reached the intended beneficiaries. After the death of 35 infants in 2013 due to malnutrition caused significant embarrassment, the state government intervened to establish community kitchens in all these 192 settlements. But news channels have broken stories of how low quality, adulterated ragi is being made available in the community kitchens and how corruption by state officials is rampant. The official position that Madhu's case is an exception and he fell through the cracks doesn't absolve the state of its responsibility.
The lynching of Madhu and the image of him with his hands tied up will haunt the state forever. But beyond the condemnation and outrage, the mindset that facilitated such a crime needs to be the focus to prevent more such brutalities in the future. Keralites have to look in the mirror and they would realise they bear equal responsibility for this murder.