By Jisha M
In January 2026, a routine media interaction in Kerala drew attention to the language increasingly used in public discussion about Muslims. Speaking to reporters after a public programme linked to the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, its general secretary Vellappalli Natesan was questioned by Reporter TV journalist Rahees Rasheed about his earlier claim that SNDP institutions were not being granted permission to start schools in Malappuram district, only Muslim majority district in Kerala. As Rasheed continued with follow-up questions, Natesan disengaged from the interaction, pulled away the microphones angrily and left.
The following day, Natesan escalated the attack while addressing the media. He named Rasheed, referred to his hometown of Eerattupetta and accused that he was associated with the Muslim Students Federation (MSF), the student wing of the Indian Union Muslim League. “I know the reporter. He is from Eerattupetta and a leader of MSF. He is a terrorist and a spokesperson of Muslims. Someone sent him there,” he said. When other journalists asked him to explain the allegation, Natesan cited only his “experience” and offered no specific basis for the charge. He later stated that he had not called Rasheed a “religious terrorist” (മതതീവ്രവാദി) but only a “terrorist,” while adding that not using the term “religious terrorist” had been a mistake.
The incident reveals several layers of Islamophobia within a space often described as progressive. One layer is the routine association of Muslim identity with terrorism, where a Muslim name alone can trigger suspicion without evidence. Another is the framing of organised Muslim student politics through a security lens, where references to the Muslim Students Federation cast legitimate political participation as suspect. A more subtle layer is the persistence of geographical profiling, in which places like Eerattupetta are repeatedly invoked in public discourse as sites of extremism.
The exchange circulated widely across Malayalam television and social media and drew criticism from journalist unions, political leaders and civil society voices. A complaint was later submitted to the state police chief by the Youth Congress, arguing that branding a journalist a terrorist for asking questions reflected a pattern of stigmatising minorities and deepening communal tension.
These patterns are not limited to one ideological camp. In a similar instance, senior journalist, author and political commentator N. P. Chekkutty was described as a representative of “Islamic extremism” by a CPI(M) leader, prompting criticism from media professionals and civil society groups. The allegation was made without evidence and was widely seen as an attempt to undermine a journalist by invoking religious suspicion. Chekkutty, who began his political life in the 1970s through the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), had earlier faced attacks from sections of the Left for serving as editor of Thejas, a newspaper administered by Muslim management.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.