BBC Tamil series explores Tamil Nadu’s Muslim minority
Life of the Muslim minority of the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu is in the focus of the new BBC Tamil nine-part weekly series launching on Sunday 5 August on radio and online, via bbctamil.com.
Setting the series’ context, BBC Tamil Editor, Thirumalai Manivannan, says: “The series is an attempt at investigating how Muslims have fared in Tamil Nadu, in socio-economic spheres, in the context of the nationwide debate following the Indian government study – the Sachar Committee Report – on the Muslims in India. It also looks at how the community, which has been relatively free from radical religious influences, has responded to the changing political situation in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition and the September 11th attacks.”
The series attempts to understand the complex dynamics of the factors that are at play in shaping up the Tamil Nadu Muslim society and politics. “While almost everyone I spoke to readily acknowledge that they live very amicably with the majority Hindus, they also complain that they are being treated as second-class citizens by the official machinery at all levels”, says series producer and presenter T.N. Gopalan.
The weekly series will be broadcast as part of the BBC Tamil radio programming from Sunday 5 August 2012. Along with the programme’s audio and text, the website bbctamil.com will also feature picture galleries depicting the lives of the Muslims of Tamil Nadu.