Manipur to Kerala: The Expanding Frontiers of Hindutva Influence
During a recent Dialogues session organised by the Symbiosis Centre for Research in Media and Creative Industries, Mr Amal Sony elaborated on his recent publication titled, Framing Manipur Violence: Assessing Right-Wing Inroads into the Syrian Christian Community of Kerala.
The intense Manipur violence has triggered discussions about religious and ethnic disparities in India while showing how national politics advanced to new ideologies. Sections of Kerala’s Syrian Christian community have begun to show clear support for right-wing Hindutva politics despite remaining an underexamined evolution. This research study investigates right-wing political infiltration into the Syrian Christian community of Kerala while examining their developing political awareness levels.
One would anticipate that targeted Christian community assaults during the Manipur violence would trigger all Indian Christian denominations to organise against the attacks. The investigation displays the deliberate effort made by right-wing-leaning Christian social media pages to portray the violence as an ethnic dispute instead of government-aided majority rule oppression. The BJP, alongside its ally groups, chooses their desired pragmatic representation to secure different Christian communities’ defence positions and validate their strikes against opposing Christian communities.
The community that traces its origins back to Syria and distinguishes itself through its sociopolitical characteristics among Kerala’s Christians has witnessed a dramatic transformation. More portions of the community now see the Hindutva movement as an anti-enemy force that stands with them against “Muslims and their political allies.” This paper uses detailed media narratives and framing techniques of social media pages to document the evolution.
The right-wing-leaning Christian digital platforms have been instrumental in transforming the way Syrian Christians perceive different matters. These narratives create an incorrect bond between Muslim persecutors of Christians and Hindutva forces by showing minimal attention to Hindutva violence alongside Muslim persecutions. The BJP leadership has deliberately devised a strategy to enter Kerala despite past electoral limitations because the party sees the state as a chance for change through this tactical shift.
The study situates this transformation within the broader context of India’s political economy. The BJP’s Christian outreach in Kerala represents the party’s plan to break the Christian minority alliances that have historically elected leftist or Congress representatives. Ideological and electoral factors drive this change as confident Syrian Christian leaders now show growing interest in BJP’s political advances. The realignment demonstrates that the Hindutva project aims to achieve religious majoritarianism and create new socio-political alliances for electoral power consolidation. The right wing uses its influence over part of the Syrian Christian community to develop a political front which seeks to subvert Kerala’s traditional secular and pluralistic political foundations.
Indian pluralism faces a significant threat due to minority community insertion into dominant political systems. Such ongoing shifts might reshape Kerala’s political structure, damaging its established commitment toward secularism and communal peace. The article stresses that people must develop critical media literacy skills because sectarian propaganda increases communal strife. Syrian Christian communities must thoroughly analyse which factors lead to this political transformation while examining the stories that try to lure them.
The Manipur violence serves as a symbol of ideological struggles currently gaining power across the entire nation of India. Right-wing political movements attempt to modify religious self-identities for their political gain; therefore, Syrian Christians in Kerala must analyse these narratives to avoid becoming part of them. Understanding information dynamics in this period becomes vital because it affects those directly affected and any individual interested in sustaining India’s democratic and pluralistic nature.
