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THIRUVANTHAPURAM, KERALA, INDIA, May 6, 2002: This southern state of India is about to get a Christian and a Muslim TV channel in a few months. It could be a difficult venture, the local Marxists have lost a great deal of money on their Kairali channel. “In Gujarat we are suffering from mixing politics with religion,” a leading Marxist thinker pointed out. “Today they start channels in the name of religion and tomorrow there will be even caste-based TV. Such channels could vitiate the fragile communal fabric.” But officials of Jeevan and India Vision dismiss such criticism, saying the new channels are “commercial organizations and not religious bodies.” Though both swear that religion will not play any role in their channels, the intelligentsia sees it as an eyewash. The state is 57% Hindu, 23% Muslim and 19% Christian. The Christian and Muslim communities together own one-half of the State’s educational institutions. There are no known plans for a Hindu station.

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