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The recently released movie, The Kerala Story, has been the talk of the town for the last few months with the release of teaser and trailer in November and April respectively. On several grounds, the movie has been denounced by the public for the distortion of facts, representation of imaginary figures and most importantly an attempt of dismantling social security and communal harmony in the nation. With the release of the movie, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared a blanket ban on the screening of the film on May 8 which was a considerate action taken by the government in order to maintain social security and not incite any form of hatred or violence in the state, as per the official statement.^[i] Upon lifting this ban on screening of the movie, on May 19, the Supreme Court of India asked the West Bengal government to reissue a statement regarding the sanction of allocation of the movie in theaters and multiplexes under the grounds of the fundamental right to free speech which is not prone to public display of emotions.^[ii]

Furthermore, the court presided by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud ordered the Tamil Nadu government to provide the required security measures to the cinema hall premises and ensure the safety of moviegoers who want to watch it, as there was an allegation that the government is imposing a de facto ban on the movie. In response to these misleading statements, the government defended itself saying that the government has nothing to do with the ban and neither does it want it to be banned. Rather, the poor performance and poor audience response are the reasons which caused the hamstring in screening the film in theaters and multiplexes. The affidavit filed by the Tamil Nadu government reads: "The exhibitors have themselves stopped the screening of the movie due to the poor audience response and the government cannot do anything to increase the audience patronage for the said film, except to provide security to the cinema theaters."^[iii]

Where did 32,000 come from?

One of the major discussions that this movie is surrounded with is the figure of 32,000. The movie claims that more than thirty-two thousand women from Kerala have joined ISIS.

Upon being asked how the director of the film Sudipto Sen calculated the figure in an interview by the YouTube channel 'The Festival of Bharat', he responded that in 2010 then Kerala Chief Minister Omman Chandy presented a report in front of the assembly where he claimed that every year around 28,00 - 32,00 were converted to Islam. With the utility of little math of 10 years, the director came to the conclusion that the total conversion cases are 32,000 or so. With another call with fact checker Alt News, in a conversation over phone when Sudipto Sen was asked if the figures have any factual basis, he commented saying that nothing is on his part and the statistics are from The Times of India (TOI) which is not available so far and neither does it sound to be available at any point. So, the report has no basis and Sen made up all these things in his mind out of nowhere.

As of the news about Oman Chandy's report of any supposed figures, there is a 2012 India Today report which reads: “On June 25, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy informed the state legislature that 2,667 young women converted to Islam in the state since 2006”. While paying extensive attention to the report one would come to know that this report is not any annual report, rather a cumulative statistic of six years (2006-2012). Another point that this report also clarifies that there was no 'forceful conversion' claimed by the then Chief Minister, rather he reiterated that the fears about 'love jihad' were baseless. Here in the report, there is not even a single attestation that would say that these women had joined ISIS.^[iv]

Another point that director Sudipto Sen has mentioned is the so-called symbolic statement of then-Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan in a press conference in Delhi in 2005 that Kerala will become an 'Islamic state'. Here too, Mr. Sen slipped from the fact that the press conference was in 2010 not in 2005. Along with this, the subtitles used in the video have been misrepresented in most of the cases. The actual words were: Independence Day on August 15…when nationalists and patriots take part in celebrations.. Youngsters are influenced.. lured with money…", whereas the distorted subtitles were: “The Popular Front is trying to make Kerala a Muslim state just like the agenda of the banned organization NDF. Their plan is to make Kerala a Muslim state within 20 years.”^[v] Later on, it was clarified that V.S. Achuthanandan was talking about 'love jihad' backed by Popular Front of India (PFI) who were allegedly trying to increase the numbers of Muslims in the state by giving them money and helping them by getting them married to Muslims.^[vi]

After backtracking these statements and Interviews given to different media outlets and channels by the director Sudipto Sen, it can be understood that there are facts 'to a little extent' but 'they are distorted'. What further declares these figures null and void is the fact that the YouTube channel 'Sunshine Pictures' which uploaded the trailer of the movie on April 26 with a tagline in the description of "32,000" claim was later on changed to 3. The currently available line reads: 'The Kerala Story' is a compilation of the true stories of three young girls from different parts of Kerala.^[vii] Furthermore, in Kerala, the members of the Muslim Youth League, an affiliated branch of Indian Union Muslim League, drew all attention when they introduced a campaign "Evidence Collection Counters'' where they promised to pay 10, 000,000 Indian rupees to those/one who come with the evidence regarding these conversion cases. Even after these open challenges, no one came up with the evidence to prove the margin of 32,000 conversion cases in the state or whatsoever.^[viii]

In a recent notice by the Supreme Court during the hearing of the movie's ban in West Bengal, the apex court further interfered saying that a disclaimer is to be added in the movie that the film is a "fictionalized account of events" and there is no reliable data to hold up its claim that 32, 000 women were forced to convert to Islam and join ISIS. As per the report, the makers have been ordered to add the disclaimer by 5 PM on Saturday of May 20.^[ix] Now, when all these figures and data are under question, it would be worth looking at if there is reliable data or statistics that would clearly enumerate what were the numbers of conversions and recruitment to ISIS from Kerala in particular and from India in general.

Actual figures and statistics

As per the report published in 'meetings coverage and press releases' section of the United Nations by Under‑Secretary‑General of United Nations Office of Counter‑Terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov, it is said that at one stage the number of recruitment to Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was more than 40,000 foreign terrorist fighters.^[x] Even if there is shaky ground with the 'precise' numbers of the recruitment and the 'might have traveled' phrase doesn't provide any specific figure with certainty, there is other research available to back these figures. In a guidebook for Central Asia, prepared by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) it has been claimed that more or less 41,000 people have joined ISIS. The report quotes: "According to a July 2018 study by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, of the 41,490 people from 80 countries who affiliated with the  Islamic State specifically."^[xi] This kind of similar report was also discussed in the United Nations by Joana Cook, Senior Research Fellow with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, at King’s College, London, where it was said that 41,490 foreign citizens across 80 countries have become affiliated with 'Daesh'.^[xii] From these two reports it is, to the most extent, clear that there are around 40,000- 42,000 recruitments in ISIS.

As of India in this regard, a report titled "Country Reports on Terrorism 2020: India" published by Bureau of Counter-Terrorism, US Department of State, which says: "Through the end of September, the NIA had investigated 34 terrorism cases it indicated were related to ISIS and arrested 160 persons."^[xiii] In another report published by Observer Research Foundation, a similar data has also been claimed for the period 2014-2018. The report quotes: "The number of pro-IS cases reported in India from 2014 to 2018 is between 180 – 200."^[xiv] But these numbers are not in line with ISIS recruitment per se from India, rather they are reports of people affiliated with ISIS under any purpose including recruitment, spreading propaganda and brainwashing people. The mere cases of recruitment from India is about 66 as the report shared by the Bureau of Counter-Terrorism claims: "There were 66 known Indian-origin fighters affiliated with ISIS, as of November." This is the figure that The Hindu and The Indian Express have also shared in their news portal quoting the report published by Bureau of Counter-Terrorism, US Department of State. An NDTV report also quotes similar statistics of 62 young people who have been identified by the government to join ISIS, as per the data of the union Home minister.^[xv]

Here, another question would be how many girls were there from Kerala joined ISIS. According to the information provided thus far, around 40 people have supposedly joined ISIS from Kerala.^[xvi] Out of these forty, six Keralan women have reportedly joined ISIS and out of which three were already Muslims. Nimisha alias Fathima Isa, Merrin Jacob alias Mariyam, and Sonia Sebastian alias Ayisha are the names of these three women converted from other religions. Of these three women, one was a Hindu, and the other two were Christians. When these ladies were imprisoned in Afghanistan in 2021 and their husbands were killed in various Afghan strikes, they were not permitted to return to their home countries.^[xvii]

With these 3 women, the entire movie has been fictionalized. This is the reason that the Supreme Court asked the producers and directors to add a disclaimer showing that the movie is a 'fictionalized account of events' and there is no authentic proof that the actual figures regarding conversion and ISIS join is 32,000. In fact, the failure of these figures was already prevalent when the 'Sunshine Pictures' stepped back from its claim of 'thirty-two' thousand conversions to 'three' in the description of the video. Now onwards the movie would be and is to be considered a fictionalized form of actual events as it has now proved to be a backlash and failure in terms of gaining people's heart as well as support from both the prism of presentation and reality.

About the author

Sirajuddin Shaikh is a PG research scholar at Darul Huda Islamic University, Kerala, India. He also writes for Islam On Web English based in Kerala, Indian and The Muslim Vibe based in London, United Kingdom

Endnotes

^[i] Mishra, S. (2023, May 19). 'The Kerala Story' Maker's "Folded Hands" Appeal To Mamata Banerjee. NDTV.com.

^[ii] G, A., & Paul, P. (2023, May 18). Supreme Court stays West Bengal govt order banning film 'The Kerala Story'. The Indian Express.

^[iii]'The Kerala Story' screening stopped due to poor performance: Tamil Nadu to SC. (2023, May 16). Mint. Retrieved May 19, 2023, from https://www.livemint.com/news/india/the-kerala-story-screening-stopped-due-to-poor-performance-poor-audience-response-tamil-nadu-to-sc-11684226210038.html

^[iv] Radhakrishnan, M. (2012, September 4). Over 2500 women converted to Islam in Kerala since 2006, says Oommen Chandy. India Today.

^[v] Sunshine Pictures (Mar 22, 2022), The Kerala Story Announcement Teaser, YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/o9MBxiTVOfk

^[vi] Kerala CM reignites 'love jihad' theory | India News. (2010, July 26). Times of India. Retrieved May 19, 2023, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/kerala-cm-reignites-love-jihad-theory/articleshow/6216779.cms

^[vii] Onmanorama Staff. (2023, May 2). 'The Kerala Story' makers dumps 32K claim, say film's about three incidents | Entertainment News. Onmanorama. Retrieved May 19, 2023, from https://www.onmanorama.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/2023/05/02/the-kerala-story-sudipto-sen-youtube-description-changes.html

^[viii] Abdulla, S. (2023, May 4). Kerala Story: Film on alleged Indian ISIL recruits gets pushback. Al Jazeera.

^[ix] Supreme Court asks The Kerala Story makers to add a disclaimer to the film. (2023, May 19). WION. Retrieved May 20, 2023, from https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/supreme-court-asks-the-kerala-story-makers-to-add-a-disclaimer-to-the-film-594015

^[x] Greater Cooperation Needed to Tackle Danger Posed by Returning Foreign Fighters, Head of Counter‑Terrorism Office Tells Security Council | UN Press. (2017, November 28). UN Press. Retrieved May 19, 2023, from https://press.un.org/en/2017/sc13097.doc.htm

^[xi] Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. (2020). A Whole-of-society Approach to Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism: A Guidebook for Central Asia (1st ed., Vol. 1). OSCE.

^[xii] ISIL Now 'A Covert Global Network' Despite Significant Losses, United Nations Counter-Terrorism Head Tells Security Council | UN Press. (2018, August 23). UN Press. Retrieved May 19, 2023, from https://press.un.org/en/2018/sc13463.doc.htm

^[xiii] Bureau of Counterterrorism. (n.d.). Country Reports on Terrorism 2020: India. State Department. Retrieved May 19, 2023, from https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2020/india/

^[xiv] Taneja, K., & Siyech, M. S. (2019). The Islamic State in India’s Kerala: A primer (1st ed., Vol. 1). Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

^[xv] Sharma, N. (2023, May 3). From 32000 To 3 ISIS Joinees, "The Kerala Story" Changes Tack For Promos. NDTV.com.

^[xvi] Taneja, K., & Siyech, M. S. (2019). The Islamic State in India’s Kerala: A primer (1st ed., Vol. 1). Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

^[xvii] Haidar, S., & Singh, V. (2021, June 11). India unlikely to allow return of 4 Kerala women who joined Islamic State. The Hindu.