In Kerala, secularism often feels less like a constitutional principle and more like a travelling circus, each act choreographed to showcase that the “real threat” to harmony is somehow always the Hindu majority, even when the fight onstage has nothing to do with them. The latest hijab row at St. Rita Public School in Kochi exposed this farcical dynamic in full colour.
A Muslim student demanded her right to wear the hijab in a Christian-run institution. The school, backed by a High Court interim order and police protection, said no, the uniform applies to all. Within hours, Education Minister and CPI(M) leader V Sivankutty intervened, ordering the school to permit the hijab. It was the perfect opportunity for the Left to parade its “secular” credentials while subtly wooing Muslim votes under the guise of constitutional liberty.
But the Church wasn’t amused. The Syro-Malabar media commission blasted the minister’s interference as a gift to communal elements targeting Christian educational institutions. Even Deepika Daily, the Church’s own mouthpiece, published an editorial warning against surrendering to “religious fundamentalism” dressed up as rights discourse. By Wednesday, the same minister who had thundered about freedom of choice was suddenly pleading for calm and consensus, conveniently after realising he had stepped on ecclesiastical toes.
Strip away the speeches and what remains is this: a tug-of-war between Muslim assertion and Christian resistance, with the CPI(M) trying to score political points from both sides. The Hindu community, neither party to the dispute nor beneficiary of the outcome, will still, in the next breath, be scolded as the supposed enemy of secularism.
So, what actually unfolded in this three-ring circus?
- Muslim groups demanded religious exceptions from a private institution’s rules.
- The Christian management resisted firmly to preserve its institutional identity and authority.
- The Communist government rushed in to scavenge whatever minority votes it could, only to retreat when it realized it was alienating another crucial electoral bloc.
This entire drama was a raw power play between three distinct groups, with the Hindu community merely as spectators. Yet, this is the bitter punchline of the Kerala paradox.
While it is a case of a Communist Minister going out of the way to appease his Muslim votebank, the secular media resorts to acrobatics to somehow pin the controversy on Hindutva and BJP.
For example, Deccan Herald in an article wrote that the “backing of the BJP and its coalition partners to the Christian management school could be seen as yet another attempt of the saffron party to get closer to the Christian community for electoral gains”.
After this unseemly squabble over religious expression and institutional control, a clash where secular principles were the first casualty, these very same actors will, without a hint of irony, reunite.
They will stand on a shared platform, point a collective finger at the Hindu majority, and deliver their favorite sermon on “Hindu intolerance” and “majoritarianism.” They will lecture the rest of India on communal harmony, all while their own political ecosystem thrives on precisely the kind of sectarian bargaining they publicly decry.
The final conclusion is inescapable. Kerala’s secularism is not a principle; it is a posture. It is a convenient weapon to be wielded against one community while the others engage in the very real, very messy politics of identity and power. The circus leaves town, but the clowns remain in government, already preparing for their next act.
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