Hey Malayali, Don't go the India way!

One of the stark differences between Kerala and other Indian states is the literacy factor and its impact on art and consequently the freedom of expression through art in the state. Over the years, Malayali writers, movie makers, poets etc have never shied away from writing about unconventional topics and 'breaking the taboo' as one may call it. Cartoons lampooning politicians and other issues are a given and the same is taken part of daily life. Movies have been avant garde in terms of expression and exploring new subjects.

Books 'defaming' or 'exposing' places of worship and persons are a regular affair. The book by a nun, 'Amen: The Autobiography Of A Nun' is a case in point.

Hence it came as a bolt from the blue, the assault on one professor Joseph in Ernakulam in July 2010 for allegedly defaming Prophet Mohammed. Recently, the resistance to such thought and everyone playing a censor seems to have reared an ugly head in the recent Rajeena - Madarsa controversy.

VP Rajeena, a journalist working with the Media One Group, had written a post on her Facebook account about how she and her classmates were victims of paedophiles at a Sunni Madarsa in Kozhikode. This has sparked a huge controversy amongst some members of the Muslim community.

Now, these incidents only provide a spark for other similar incidents to breed. Kerala being a state which has encouraged freedom of expression, needs to come out of this self imposed censorship and go back to what it was. Else, it would only be doing what the rest of the country is doing - wasting its time on needless censorship and curbing the freedom of expression.