By Sharanya Gopinathan
Russian writer, anarcha-feminist, wannabe-political assassin, teacher, jailbird and all-round rockstar Emma Goldman once said, “If I can't dance, I don't want to be in your revolution.” I wish Goldman had been alive to see Monday morning’s headlines about Muslim women dancing in Kerala, because I know she’d have done a jig.
It all began on 1 December, on the noble occasion of World AIDS Day. Three hijab-clad girls from Malappuram, Kerala began to be trolled for posting a video of themselves dancing to the comical Malayalam song, Jimikki Kammal, on a street as part of an AIDS awareness drive. It was hailed by trolls as the end of the world and likened to a tsunami (some of the responses were feigned shock that such a thing had even happened in conservative Malappuram), and several other folks chimed in to announce that the girls were an insult to Islam.
One Doha-based gent, RJ Sooraj, bit off way more than he could chew when he jumped into the fray. On 2 December, he posted a video of himself confidently expressing his support for the girls and mocking the comments they received in a silly voice. He also called out the hypocrisy of those who would speak in favour of freedom for Hadiya while simultaneously denouncing this video of women dancing.
Soon after, RJ Sooraj began to receive death threats and violent warnings that his radio station would be shut down, so he resurfaced on social media the next day to state that he had no communal agenda. And the day after that, 4 December, he quietly apologised to “all his Muslim friends” for his comments. In his apology, he added, “A lot of young men from Kerala work in my radio station. If they were to lose their jobs because of the video I put up, that would hurt me.” Good to know where the chips finally fall.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, we saw women in Kerala supporting the Malappuram girls in the most exciting way. Social media saw a flurry of videos of Muslim girls dancing in public places, to the same song and others, in synchronised protest against the puerile reaction that the original video had spawned.
And what a picture they painted.