Beyond Kerala: Story 2's Pan-India Conversion Alarm

 

While the Indian Constitution grants the right to profess, practice and propagate religion, it strictly prohibits conversion by fraud, force or allurement- a vital shield against exploitation. Yet, The Kerala Story 2 faces backlash as "propaganda," and has been subject to controversy and criticism based only on the cases of convicted victims or FIRs which fails to take into account the silent sufferings of many victims who could not raise their voice because they chose their partner willingly, and the truth came out very late; some escaped, some were killed, some are still suffering. Kerala Story 2 revolves around 3 strong-minded, career-oriented women being lured into conversion to Islam by their boyfriends and then exploited, violated, impregnated, and raped.

They systematically brainwash girls, especially of tender age, who are not quite aware or rooted in their own culture, whom they call “Kafirs” and use their unawareness, or secular nature or non-believer of any religion. They gradually turn them against their own religion, family and even society to lure them into converting to Islam. "We were brainwashed into Islam & made to hate Hindus. Thankfully, we have returned to the humanity & compassion of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism)," was said by Vishali Shetty & Sruthi O, who are now both part of Arsha Vidya Samajam. Over the past 25+ years of operation, they have helped more than 8,000 people escape dangerous ideologies and lifestyles. 

To honour the survivors, it is necessary to look beyond the comfort of giving the events a convenient label and dismissing them as propaganda. To do so is to ignore the voices of the survivors whose wounds are still fresh. The truth is jagged and uncomfortable and even terrifying at times, but it is in this discomfort that we find the strength to listen. It is not so much a matter of choosing what we want to believe as it is seeing the reality of the victims and perceiving the human lives within the statistics and realising that the truth does not always have to be comfortable in order to be real.