By John Mathew

New Delhi, July 29, 2023: As horrendous stories of riots, rape and arson emerge from the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Joseph Maliaken reminds us, “Riots just don’t happen; they are all created.”

The veteran journalist in his seventies says this with conviction as he has covered numerous communal riots in various parts of India for several decades.

The worst was during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Killings, rape and torching of houses and properties went on for a few days.

The largest number of Sikhs burned alive was at East Delhi’s Trilokpuri. Among those trying to save women and children rushing out of their burning houses to the streets was Maliekan, who began his journalism career in the 1970s.

The full name of the native of Kanjirathanam in Kerala is Babu Joseph Maliaken.

The police were helping the rioters, who had the nod from their political masters to do anything until Indira’s final rites were over.

Police Commissioner Tandon who reached Trilokpuri asked Maliekan, ‘What’s wrong here.”

Maliaken, who was furious, shouted at the officer with some expletives, “If you have any respect for your uniform, take your pistol and shoot yourself.” Only a person of Maliaken’s grit and caliber would say this.

Such righteous indignation would not surprise those who know Maliaken personally. He was also at the Boat Club Grounds near India Gate to report Rajiv Gandhi’s controversial speech that “the earth shatters when a big tree falls,” in reaction to riots triggered by his mother’s assassination.

Maliaken was commissioned by Ram Nath Goenka’s Indian Express Group to cover countless communal riots in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. As those riots were between Hindus and Muslims, Maliaken, a Christian, was selected because his bosses knew he would not take sides.

And he accomplished the mission with efficiency. The survivors of the anti-Sikh riots would recognize him even today. He also stood up for the Dalit youths who were blinded by high caste people in Bihar, accusing them of theft.

Although we are from the place in Kerala and neighbors in Delhi for a long time, we came to know each other quite late. His younger brother was my classmate. Maliaken is the shortened name of his house name, Maliyekal. It seems that we are the only two people from our village to get the pass to cover Parliament.

Maliaken has acted as himself in the film, based on the Delhi anti-Sikh riots — ‘Kaya Taran,’ produced by Asianet founder Sasikumar.

Maliaken’s father M K Joseph was a big organizer of Pattamthanu Pillai’s Praja Socialist Party. Maliaken recalls seeing Jayaprakash Narayan in his house when he was a child.

Despite being a member of a wealthy family, M K has led many progressive movements in Kerala.

Maliekan who lives in the Press Apartment in East Delhi, (a few km west of Trilokpuri) has inherited many of his father’s qualities.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Maliekan, even at the twilight of his life, is at the forefront of the struggles of the Dalit, Adivasi and marginalized communities for their rights. Maliekan stands with the hunted and the powerless to defend themselves at a time when journalism has become for many just a means to gain power, money and influence.

Maliaken is convinced what is happening in Manipur is a civil war in which women have been brutally tortured and raped. “And for the first time women have been weaponized in India. We are no more a peace-loving civilised society because women too were a part of the victimization of Kuki women in Manipur,” he laments.

(John Mathew is a photojournalist with the Deepika newspaper and currently lives in Kottayam, Kerala. He wrote this for the newspaper Sunday Shalom, where he had worked earlier.)