A gentle sea breeze caressed Pallithodi Majeed’s face as he gazed out at the rugged Marad shoreline, the day after Eid-Ul-Fitr, reflecting on the mere two hours granted by the Kerala High Court to him to attend his daughter’s wedding more than a decade ago.
Accompanied by two watchful policemen, he recalled that he scarcely had time to savour the wedding feast and bestow his blessings upon his daughter before one of the officers announced, “Alright, it’s time to go.”
Majeed’s tale as an accused in the second Marad riots of 2003, resonates with the experiences of many elderly men in this fishing village. “We languished in prison for years, denied bail and painfully absent from our children’s formative years. Our wives shouldered the responsibility of keeping our families afloat. We have suffered greatly. Now it’s completely calm,” Majeed said, reclining on a colossal boulder beneath a swaying coconut palm.
“The animosity between the two communities has largely dissipated, yielding to amicable intermingling and mutual understanding,“ the sexagenarian said.
Cradled by the shores of Beypore in Kozhikode district, the serene hamlet of Marad found itself thrust into the national limelight after an unforeseen wave of communal discord between two different communities rippled through its lanes on January 3 and 4, 2002.
Later on May 2, 2003, eight fishermen lost their lives, and several others were severely injured in a meticulously planned attack. An assailant also was killed accidently in the incident which had a significant impact on the secular harmony of Kerala.
In the aftermath of the massacre, there are countless events to be told. They include the exodus of hundreds of families fleeing in fear of counter-attacks, sweeping State-led rehabilitation initiatives with the assistance of Gandhians, and Crime Branch investigations.
High-profile interrogations, seizures of huge cache of weapons, raids and closures of places of worship, seizures, detentions, arrests, and convictions followed, along with a special police inquiry into the larger conspiracy and a subsequent probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation years later.
To probe the incidents, the government appointed the Thomas P. Joseph Commission of Inquiry. The commission concluded that the Kozhikode civil administration and the police bore responsibility for failing to take prompt, preventive and remedial measures to forestall the massacre. The commission proposed a range of ideological, political and legal approaches to avert such incidents in the future and foster communal harmony.
Two decades have passed since the incident. However, many of the promised development activities either failed to take off or became defunct with each passing year.
The May 2 upheaval resulted in a profound sense of insecurity among both the communities residing in Marad. Subair Erajuvintakath, a fish vendor, expressed his anguish: “We felt like pawns in a political game. Our children faced difficulty in finding partners as outsiders were too frightened to visit Marad. Numerous families abandoned our village, seeking a more promising future for their children elsewhere.”
To address the situation, the government facilitated the relocation of some families outside Marad. Relations between the communities soured, communication ceased, children attended different schools, and those who left Marad during the riots never returned. The divide was so pronounced that they settled on opposite sides of the road.
In Marad, most adults are involved in the fishing industry, from deep-sea ventures to selling catch. However, the lack of a fish-landing zone and net repair shed poses a significant problem for the community. Numerous appeals have been made for a mini harbour, but their demands remain unmet owing to the proximity of two large harbours in Kozhikode and Beypore.
“There are around 100 small boats in Marad, besides around 15 bigger ones. They operate from Beypore where they are often neglected in favour of the much bigger trawler boats,” said P. Suresh, a former secretary of Araya Samajam, a convict in the 2002 riots, who is now out on parole.
Previously women from both communities were employed under the ‘Sparsam’ (Sustainable Poverty Alleviation and Reformation of the Sea-belt area of Marad) project of the district administration. However, it was wound up within a couple of years. “Then Marad got a new police station. That’s all the development we had,” Ramesh Nambiyath, social worker in the region and local Congress leader, said.
The dilapidated buildings that housed the Sparsam project units along the beach continue to be a reminder of official apathy towards the region a few years after the riots. A footwear manufacturing unit is the only one that has survived the neglect, though it was eventually shifted to Naduvattam, he added.
Local employment opportunities have decreased owing to the decline of fish availability and rising fishing costs. “Around 40% of women here are employed in the city in various shops. It could be beneficial for them, especially young mothers, if they could find employment closer to home,“ Mr. Suresh said.
Nevertheless, change is on the horizon for Marad as the region falls under the Beypore Assembly segment of Minister for Tourism and Public Works P.A. Mohamed Riyas. “There are plans for a fish-landing zone, new schools, and a coastal highway,“ claimed Kollarath Sureshan, Kozhikode Corporation councillor of the CPI(M) who represents the Marad division.
He said the Integrated Responsible Tourism Development Project for Beypore aimed to benefit Marad as well. Vocational training for women and initiatives for homestays and local cuisine catering for tourists are being introduced. Unfortunately, owing to Coastal Regulation Zone norms, significant construction projects in Marad remain limited, Mr. Suresh said.
A. Umesh, who was Sub Inspector at Marad in 2007 and is now the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in Kozhikode, said time began to mend wounds, albeit only partially in Marad. “By the time I took charge, the villagers had grown weary of the term ‘religious harmony’, tired of the authorities force-feeding them the concept,“ he noted.
Since then, the Marad police have taken the role of social reformers, implementing a thoughtful, psychological, step-by-step approach. Recognising that development was crucial for peace, they focused on helping locals achieve smaller objectives. Mr. Umesh explained, quoting musician Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri, who inaugurated the ‘Noorumeni’ project for the comprehensive development of Marad in 2007
The first initiative involved forming residents’ associations for every 100 households in Marad. Within a few months, it became the first village in the State to encompass all households within such associations. With the support of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), ‘Sunday Clinics’ offered free consultations with specialists from the city. These clinics flourished, inadvertently fostering interaction between estranged communities. Demonstrating unity, all Marad residents participated in a mega medical camp, where they also learned meditation techniques.
A personality development camp welcomed 100 children, aged 5-10, from both communities, providing an opportunity to bond through games without relatives’ supervision. The crowning achievement was the Marad Film Festival, which featured films such as “Kanakkinavu”, “Perumazhakkalam”, and “Santham”, all centred around the theme of religious harmony. Mr. Umesh reminisced, “Everyone attended, excited to engage with the stars and directors who spoke to them directly.”
Former District Collectors A. Jayathilak and P.B. Salim played key roles in bridging the chasm between the communities. The road to the Marad beach was a narrow and rough one, which the district administration took an effort to widen and asphalt. Arrangements were made to address drinking water shortage in the locality. There were monthly meetings chaired by the District Collector where even smaller problems of the locality were resolved immediately. “People began to feel acknowledged, no longer ignored, and this sparked a shift in attitude,” Mr. Umesh said.
Although short lived, the ‘Sparsam’ project united relatives of both victims and perpetrators, further closing the divide. “Our challenge was to nurture religious harmony without ever mentioning the word,” the officer said.
