The obnoxious anti-Muslim film produced by someone in the US and disseminated through the Internet has already caused five days of daily anti-US demonstrations in Chennai.
Muslim youth of Chennai did not react in such a vigorous manner over the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, during the visit of former US President George Bush to India in 2006 and against the cartoons published by a Danish journal in September 2005 projecting the Holy Prophet of Islam in negative colours.
The surprisingly angry reaction of the Muslim youth this time could be attributed partly to the fact that the film is much, much more obnoxious than the Danish cartoons and partly to the feeling that the government of India has not reacted against the film as vehemently as it should have. The anger in sections of the Muslim youth of Chennai also reflects the growth of religious activism among the Muslim youth in educational institutions and the dilution of the control of the elders of the community over the angry youth.
There are over 20 Muslim organisations in Tamil Nadu with different political agendas and objectives. The Muslim political consciousness movement in Tamil Nadu has been widely splintered. It continues to be so. However, whereas the elders constituting the leadership of these organisations are still splintered, the youth of these organisations have shown a readiness to come together and work jointly for common Islamic causes.
The anger of the youth belonging to different organisations ( their number is estimated at around 5000 ) has had certain characteristics that need attention. Initially, the expression of anger started in the colleges and subsequently it spread to schools. The protests attracted a number of Muslim women from colleges and schools who took to the streets in solidarity with the boys. On the fifth day on September 18, 2012, some of the clergy in charge of prayers in some of the main mosques of the city were also reported to have joined.