KERALA has an enthralling history of progressive thoughts, Left and democratic political and socio-cultural movements, strong library, art and film movements etc, all of which contributed to creating a wide space for speech and expression. One may, for example, recall the renowned film Nirmmalyam, directed by M T Vasudevan Nair, which the Kerala society of those days wholeheartedly welcomed as the expression of a poor person’s sense of grief and anger against the social realities of his time. Not surprisingly, the film was felicitated as the best film of the year by the central government and the veteran actor P J Antony was given the Bharat Award for best acting. True, there were occasions when the freedom of speech and expression were threatened. But all such attempts were forcefully resisted. Unfortunately, it seems, the scenario has totally changed within a short span after the coronation of Narendra Modi as the prime minister of the country. Recently the principal of the Kunnamkulam Polytechnique and six students studying there were arrested on the alibi that they had allegedly maligned the prime minister of India. At the centre of controversy was a photograph of Narendra Modi published in the college magazine, in which Modi was included in the list of “negative faces” along with Adolf Hitler, George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden. Incidentally, the magazine was published before Modi took charge of the prime minister’s post. There was no hue and cry at the time the magazine was published. However, local RSS leaders appear to have been waiting till the adornment of Modi. After the swearing-in of Modi, they rushed to the local police station and filed an FIR. Even though the state is being ruled by the Congress party, the perverted Kerala Police sought to prove itself more loyal than the king. Thus the college principal M N Krishnan Kutty, student magazine’s editor and five of the students were arrested. The college was raided and 396 copies of the magazine were seized. The police filed charges of defamation, provocation, and concealing the design to commit an offence. When questions were raised in the Kerala assembly, home minister Ramesh Chennithala denounced the action taken by his own police force. “I could not agree with the action taken by police,” he said. The state of Kerala is thus witnessing a perverted situation where the home minister failed to control his own police and then feigned innocence. In fact, even though the BJP is not a major force in Kerala, it appears they are spreading their tentacles in the administration and seeking to control the police force too. Apart from the legal hiccup, however, what wrong have the students done? They portrayed Modi in the negative list as a prime minister but because of his active guidance and protection given to the culprits of the Gujarat genocide 2002. Significantly, when Mrs Sonia Gandhi described Narendra Modi as the “merchant of death,” no FIR was lodged by Modi or the RSS. But if the RSS and BJP are allowed to have their way in regard to their criticism, most probably many of our cartoonists would be found in jails. This is not a single incident, however. It appears the RSS is out to forcefully implement its agenda of vendetta. Recently, the Kerala leadership of the RSS initiated legal action against B Rajeevan, a veteran writer, who recently wrote an article in Mathrubhoomi daily, indicting the RSS as the main culprit behind Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. But this was not the first time this allegation was made. Long back, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the man who, as the country’s home minister, banned the RSS after the Gandhi assassination. The RSS has obviously been and still is highly intolerant to any criticisms of its ideology, and what they are doing in Kerala is to do some experiments, as if in a laboratory.