After the release of ‘The Kerala Story,’ several people have come forward to talk about and share their stories on grave issues like forceful conversion to Islam and love jihad, which was dismissed as a ‘hoax’ all these years. On May 16, Tuesday, OpIndia met some victims from Kerala, who fell prey to this systematic crime that has been flagrantly taking place in various parts of the country with assistance from various Islamist organizations.
Shruti, a Hindu and a native of Kasargod in Kerala was among the females interviewed by OpIndia to discuss this practice of brainwashing and Love Jihad. She told OpIndia that she was radicalized to the extent that she wouldn’t have shied away from killing a person who objected to the ideology and did not convert to Islam.
Shruti reported attending a conversion center in Malappuram, Kerala, where the preachers brainwashed them not just against Hinduism but also against the country. They were indoctrinated to believe that Bharat (India) is not their home since it belongs to the ‘Kaafirs.’
“They told us how we must disseminate Islam throughout the country and turn the country to Darul Islam. They are so polished and have such exceptional oratory abilities that those who listen to them start believing their sermons. You start to believe that it is impossible for them to coexist with the kaafirs. I became so radicalized that I wanted to convert everyone I knew to Islam. I was actually prepared to even kill those who refused to convert to Islam,” Shruti remarked as she recounted her journey and gave insights about the horrific and grave problem of conversion that has been plaguing Indian society.
Throwing light on how a systematic syndicate operates to execute this ‘organized crime’ with financial and logistical support from various Islamist organizations, Shruti explained how this cartel follows a premeditated step-by-step process to bring vulnerable and ignorant people into the folds of Islam.
“They first identify the girls who do not have too much knowledge about their own religion, in my case Hinduism. They play on this disability and start instigating you against your own religion by asking questions to which we have no answers”, Shruti said.
She described the types of questions they posed to her during the brainwashing process, which caused her to question her own religion. “They made fun of our deities by saying things like, Do you worship Lord Ram? Why did he abandon his wife? Is this his attitude towards women? You worship Krishna, a womanizer? Why do you pray monkeys?”
Shruti went on to describe how they question their targets’ religious practices, and when they see the target has no idea how to respond, they begin condemning their faith even more passionately and dangerously, creating a sense of inferiority complex in the individual. Shruti mentioned that they put you in a position where you develop such an aversion to your faith that you don’t even want to consider or talk about it.
When the victim reaches this level, they paint such an appealing portrayal of their ideas, culture, and religion that the person gets completely riveted. As the victim reaches an addiction stage, they begin injecting their ideological views into your system like slow poison, Shruti described the systematic and methodical method that these cartels operating in various parts of the country, particularly in South India, employ to carry out this organized crime.
This organized process of indoctrination in the name of Islam, which Shruti spoke about, is a raging issue that has been very well depicted in Sudipto Sen’s The Kerala Story which has been breaking all box office records since it hit the theatres on May 5, 2023. The movie tells the story of ‘ISIS brides’ from Kerala, women from the state who had joined ISIS and married ISIS terrorists in Syria, including Hindu and Christian women who had converted to Islam.
Though the movie is based on true incidents, since the release of its trailer, opposition particularly the left and the Congress, and Islamist groups, have been attempting to delegitimize the movie.
They went on to label it as propaganda cinema and tried to prevent its screening. Despite the criticism, however, the movie has inspired people to promote ‘The Kerala Story’ among Hindu women on their own. It has also made people realize how they didn’t recognize the efforts to influence them earlier.
OpIndia reported on Anagha Jaigopal and Vishali Shetty, two such women who narrated their experiences of conversion and coming back to the Sanatana Dharma. They described in detail their experience and testified that the film depicts the reality of what is happening in not just Kerala or other states in the country but across the globe.
OpIndia also wrote about one such Hindu woman who, after seeing the movie, shared her own life experience with the media. The woman said that indoctrination in the name of Islam documented in the movie is not a figment of anyone’s imagination but a real problem raging across not only India but the world. She confessed how she herself had fallen prey to this trap when she was in college.
