23-05-2025
Kerala BJP leader seeks NIA probe against rapper Vedan for ‘disparaging' PM Modi in his songs
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Ambedkarite rapper Vedan, who courted controversy with law enforcement and Sangh Parivar organisations, drew the spotlight on Friday (May 23, 2025) after a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Kerala sought a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe against the artist.
The complainant, V.S. Minimol, BJP's counsellor in the Palakkad Municipality, told The Hindu that the Hirandas Murali alias Vedan's 'divisive lyrics which lampooned Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a fake patriot' had prompted her to write to the Union Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, seeking an NIA investigation under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act).
Mr. Vedan, who had recently risen to levels of stardom arguably unmatched by anyone in the relatively nascent but developing Malayalam poetry and rhythm hip-hop genre, had voiced an oblique critique of those at the apex of the Central government in the song 'Voice of the Voiceless' in 2019.
Ms. Minimol said that Indian society had relegated caste prejudice to the dustbin of history. She accused Mr. Vedan of seeking to promote caste hate at the behest of forces seeking to divide Hindu society.
Mr. Vedan had rocketed quickly to becoming a youth icon by poignantly rapping about the 'subtle but strong undercurrents of skin tone bias and allied casteism in Kerala society', earning accolades from the ruling front and opposition and brickbats from the Sangh Parivar leadership.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had provided stages for Mr. Vedan at its fourth-anniversary celebrations across the State, drawing huge crowds trending towards the young demographic. Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan and Kerala Pradesh Congress President (KPCC) lauded Mr Vedan's social criticism through music.
In contrast, Mr. Vedan earned the ire of the Sangh Parivar organisations. The BJP-controlled Palakkad municipality demanded the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) department compensate for the public property allegedly damaged by the audience at Mr Vedan's government-sponsored event in Palakkad.
At a Hindu Aikya Vedi meeting in Palakkad, the organisation's chief trustee, P. Sasikala, recently stated that Vedan music was a blot on the rich heritage and folk culture of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities in Kerala. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has demanded the police book Ms Sasikala for making insulting and casteist insinuations against Mr Vedan, who hails from an SC/ST community.
On May 17, the Kolam police indicted the editor of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece, Kesari, N. R. Madhu, for allegedly committing the offence of promoting enmity between different groups and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of communal harmony, as specified in Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) by 'denigrating' Vedan as a caste terrorist.
The Democratic Youth Federation of India's (DYFI) national president and CPI(M) State committee member, A A Rahim, MP, told the Hindu that the NIA complaint against was emblematic of the BJP's intolerance to dissent and opposition to the RSS's revanchist Hindu majoritarian ideology, rooted deeply in the socially abhorrent and outlawed caste system.
'Vedan's massive acceptance in Kerala society, especially among youth, for his critique of society and power has given the regressive BJP and Sangh Parivar sleepless nights. The BJP's threat that it would jail an artist for criticising Modi through his art would not pass muster among the masses', he said.
