Kerala BJP leader seeks NIA probe against rapper Vedan for ‘disparaging’ PM Modi in his songs

Rapper Vedan during an lawsuit successful Idukki. File photo | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

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Ambedkarite rapper Vedan, who courted controversy with instrumentality enforcement and Sangh Parivar organisations, drew the spotlight connected Friday (May 23, 2025) aft a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) person successful Kerala sought a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe against the artist.

The complainant, V.S. Minimol, BJP’s counsellor successful the Palakkad Municipality, told The Hindu that the Hirandas Murali alias Vedan’s “divisive lyrics which lampooned Prime Minister Narendra Modi arsenic a fake patriot” had prompted her to constitute to the Union Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, seeking an NIA probe nether the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act).

Mr. Vedan, who had precocious risen to levels of stardom arguably unmatched by anyone successful the comparatively nascent but processing Malayalam poesy and bushed hip-hop genre, had voiced an oblique critique of those astatine the apex of the Central authorities successful the opus “Voice of the Voiceless” successful 2019. 

Ms. Minimol said that Indian nine had relegated caste prejudice to the dustbin of history. She accused Mr. Vedan of seeking to beforehand caste hatred astatine the behest of forces seeking to disagreement Hindu society.

Mr. Vedan had rocketed rapidly to becoming a younker icon by poignantly rapping astir the “subtle but beardown undercurrents of tegument code bias and allied casteism successful Kerala society”, earning accolades from the ruling beforehand and absorption and brickbats from the Sangh Parivar leadership. 

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) authorities had provided stages for Mr. Vedan astatine its fourth-anniversary celebrations crossed the State, drafting immense crowds trending towards the young demographic. Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan and Kerala Pradesh Congress President (KPCC) lauded Mr Vedan’s societal disapproval done 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) section compensate for the nationalist spot allegedly damaged by the assemblage astatine Mr Vedan’s government-sponsored lawsuit successful Palakkad.

At a Hindu Aikya Vedi gathering successful Palakkad, the organisation’s main trustee, P. Sasikala, precocious stated that Vedan euphony was a blot connected the affluent practice and people civilization of scheduled caste and scheduled people communities successful Kerala. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has demanded the constabulary publication Ms Sasikala for making insulting and casteist insinuations against Mr Vedan, who hails from an SC/ST community.

On May 17, the Kolam constabulary indicted the exertion of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece, Kesari, N. R. Madhu, for allegedly committing the offence of promoting enmity betwixt antithetic groups and doing acts prejudicial to the attraction of communal harmony, arsenic specified successful Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) by “denigrating” Vedan arsenic a caste terrorist. 

The Democratic Youth Federation of India’s (DYFI) nationalist president and CPI(M) State committee member, A A Rahim, MP, told the Hindu that the NIA ailment against Mr.Vedan was emblematic of the BJP’s intolerance to dissent and absorption to the RSS’s revanchist Hindu majoritarian ideology, rooted profoundly successful the socially abhorrent and outlawed caste system. 

“Vedan’s monolithic acceptance successful Kerala society, particularly among youth, for his critique of nine and powerfulness has fixed the regressive BJP and Sangh Parivar sleepless nights. The BJP’s menace that it would jailhouse an creator for criticising Modi done his creation would not walk muster among the masses”, helium said. 

Published - May 23, 2025 12:44 p.m. IST