On November 3, 2022, the teaser of the new movie ‘The Kerala Story’ was issued. Produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah and directed by Sudipto Sen, the film depicts the heartbreaking and heartbreaking stories of 32,000 women from Kerala who were radicalized to join the terrorist ranks of ISIS (Islamic States of Iraq and Syria). It is noteworthy that many of these Muslim women from Kerala who joined ISIS were converted with the motive of sending them to the terrorist organization ISIS.
The trailer shows a Muslim woman in front of the international border telling her story. The character of actress Adah Sharma says that she used to be Shalini Unnikrishnan and wanted to serve the people as a nurse. She goes on to say that she forcibly converted to Islam and was renamed Fatima Ba, then was sent to ISIS to become a terrorist and ends up incarcerated in a prison in Afghanistan.
‘The Kerala Story’ chronicles the pain of 32,000 converted Muslim women from Kerala who were sent as terrorists to ISIS to be buried in the deserts of Yemen and Syria. In Kerala, a dreaded game has been played in recent years to turn a normal girl into an ISIS terrorist. Increasing radicalization in the southern state due to the activities of Islamic organizations such as the Popular Front of India and its other allied organizations is responsible for this smuggling of girls into the Gulf.
Filmmakers promise authentic and unbiased rendering
The teaser for “The Kerala Story”, which promises to be a very authentic, unbiased and truthful account of events that shocked Kerala, is both businesslike and forceful in its stance. While most people would avoid the topic, producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah was adamant about presenting this horrifying story on the big screen, backed up by 4 years of exhaustive study. Director Sudipto Sen visited the region, including some Arab countries, spoke to residents and relatives of the victims and was amazed at what he saw.
At the time of the announcement of the movie in March 2022, Vipul Shah had said: “In this film, you are confronted with a human tragedy that will make you stagger. During the first meeting with Sudipto (writer-director) I burst into tears as he described it to me and shared his extensive research that spanned three to four years. I decided to produce this film on the same day. We want to make a film that is very realistic, impartial and accurate to the events depicted.”
Kerala has been a target of Islamists since 2009
According to a recent survey, about 32,000 women of Hindu and Christian faith in Kerala and Mangalore have converted to Islam since 2009. The majority of these girls eventually end up in Syria, Afghanistan and other regions with a high concentration of ISIS and Haqqani influence. The film will reveal the truth about this conspiracy and the suffering of these ladies.
Although the conversions started in 2009, ISIS involvement in Kerala was first detected in 2013. Already in 2014, ISIS established roots in Kerala, with modules encouraging religious conversions and aimed at attracting professionals to join forces in Afghanistan and Syria. Many men and women from Kerala are said to have joined the ISKP (Islamic State of Khorasan Province) in recent years. The United Nations warned in its 2020 terrorism report that there is a significant number of ISIS terrorists in the Indian state of Kerala.
Furthermore, a National Investigation Agency charge: filed in July 2020 in connection with the assassination of Special Sub-Inspector Wilson revealed a strong association between ISIS terrorists active and growing in the state. The NIA is currently to research matters related to IS recruitment centers in Kerala. Several non-Muslim women have also been radicalized and converted in recent years and have been sent to Afghanistan and Syria to fight for the Islamic State.
Converting and Radicalizing Women in Kerala
When Mini Vijayan, a military official, claimed that her daughter Aparna was forcibly converted to Islam, the issue of Kerala Women Are Converted And Recruited By ISIS received extra attention in 2016. Aparna was linked to Sathyasarani, also known as the Malappuram-based Markazul Hidaya Educational and Charitable Trust. She arrived at the courthouse with a woman named Sumayya. Aparna informed the authorities that she had converted to Islam and did not want to join her mother. When Aparna disappeared from her Kochi dorm like a B. Tech. student, she married Aashiq, a car driver from Malappuram.
Such episodes have been documented in several cases. When the NIA began investigating the connections between Love Jihad and ISIS in 2017, they discovered that two Hindu girls named Athira and Akhila (who later changed their names to Hadiya) were lured by Sainaba, a PFI member.
The Malappuram Connection
These ladies were all found to be associated with the Markazul Hidaya or the Sathyasarani Trust in Malappuram. Hadiya’s conversion and the marriage to Shafeen Jahan, according to the NIA, which testified in court, were not independent events, but rather the result of a planned operation by Sathyasarani and PFI. According to a covert operation against Sathyasarani and PFI, the founding member of PFI acknowledged on video that their ultimate goal is to make India an Islamic state. It was also announced that the NIA had received the investigation report.
The Sathyasarani Trust in Malappuram, also known as the Markazul Hidaya, a PFI-led organization, seems to be the unifying theme linking these conversions to ‘education’. Individuals associated with this center were Aparna, Hadiya (Akhila) and the ladies who traveled to join ISIS. The records of 70 Hindu and Christian girls’ conversions were found during an investigation by law enforcement officers. The girls were there, according to the trust, to study religion.
This is just the tip of an iceberg
Sathyasarani is just one of many institutions. Its supporters continue to reject any affiliation with extreme organizations or terrorist organizations. Several of these facilities are in operation in Kerala. Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation is the main source of literature used by 95% of these brainwashing centers. Numerous converted women have also expressed how captivated they were by Naik’s conversations. According to government statistics, 5,975 people in the state converted to Islam between 2011 and 2015. In 2015 alone, 1,410 people converted. Women under the age of 35 make up a whopping 76 percent of new converts.
What is the main legal hurdle?
This is remarkably similar to incidents of forced conversion in Sindh, Pakistan. The only difference is that due to India’s strict child marriage laws, the victims are now adults. As a result, the cases are simply shelved or stagnated because the girl and her Muslim husband are protected by law from acting of their own free will, this introduces more problems for the relatives and the police. The family and authorities cannot prove any pressure or indoctrination without the girl’s clear confession.
Conclusion of The Kerala Story
Radical Islam is deeply rooted in Kerala. The sheer number of radicalization, conversion and recruitment centers operating are far from attracting the attention of the national media or leading it on the issue. However, it is undeniably a matter of great concern. In the post-ISIS world, using women as tools and weapons—whether through sex slavery or recruiting for terrorism—is no longer a secret. Governments, both state and unions, must take it seriously and come up with effective solutions to combat the problem. With the movie ‘The Kerala Story’ coming out soon, there is hope that this serious issue will take center stage in popular discourse.
