Jan Raksha Yatra: Malabar rebellion first jihadi massacre, says Kerala BJP chief

Police use water cannon to disperse Delhi BJP workers during a protest march by the party outside the CPI(M) office in New Delhi on Monday. (Photo: PTI)

As the BJP’s Jan Raksha Yatra entered Muslim-dominated Malappuram district on Monday, the party’s state president, Kummanam Rajasekharan, said the Malabar rebellion of 1921 was the first jihadi massacre in Kerala.

Rajasekharan, who is leading the yatra, said that depicting unprovoked massacre of Hindus as part of the independence struggle is an insult to history as well as the majority community in the state.

The BJP leader said, “If it were an agitation against British rule, why were thousands of people butchered and temples destroyed? It high time we stopped glorifying this massacre depicting it as freedom struggle. If anyone is given pension on behalf of this rebellion, it should be given to those who had to flee their homes during the riot and the dependents of the victims of the jihadi massacre.”

He said mainstream political parties should desist from the move to celebrate the centenary of the rebellion.

The Malabar rebellion or Moplah riot of 1921 was an uprising of Muslims tenants against the British government and Hindu landlords. The armed riot led to the large-scale killings of Hindus in the Malabar region.