Author: M.G. Radhakrishnan
Publication: India Today
Date: June 28, 2004
The Indian Union Muslim League's
hold on Muslims slips dramatically as its cadres rebel against its elitist
leadership and the soft Hindutva policies of Chief Minister A.K. Antony
Mumbaikar G.M. Banatwala never spoke
a word of Malayalam but was elected to the Lok Sabha on an Indian Union
Muslim League (IUML) ticket seven times from Ponnani in Kerala's northern
Malappuram district where the only language most people understand is Malayalam.
Like him, Muhammed Ismail too was a non- Malayali. He did not speak the
local language, yet fought three elections to the Lok Sabha from Manjeri
constituency. And won all three. What is more, he won without even visiting
the constituency regularly.
Welcome to Malappuram, the impregnable
IUML fortress where the best that every other political party could hope
for was to end up as an also-ran. That was until May 13. While E-2004 witnessed
many an upset, in Manjeri the impossible happened. For the first time ever,
the IUML was routed, incredibly enough, by the CPI(M) which had fielded
T.K. Hamza, a former minister and Islamic scholar.
The shock defeat in Manjeri is just
the latest alarm bell signifying the decline in the standing of the once
unassailable IUML among Kerala's six million-strong Muslim community. The
erosion of the community's loyalty to the IUML was also evident in the
Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency, another IUML bastion, where its national
secretary E. Ahmed (now minister of state for external affairs) won by
about one lakh votes. While the margin looks impressive, in reality it
is not, considering that in the past any opposition to the IUML in these
two constituencies was token. "Manjeri has proved that the IUML's writ
no longer runs among the Muslims," says Hamza.
The defeat has led to a major upheaval
within the IUML. There had been minor stirrings in the past, but these
had remained dormant until now out of veneration for Panakkad Syedali Shihab
Thangal, the party president who is also the community's spiritual leader.
But there was chaos at the party's recent district conference in Malappuram
when local cadres took the leadership to task on many issues. The main
charges were:
* Greed for power which made the
party a mute witness to the "misdeeds and soft Hindutva policies" of state
Chief Minister A.K. Antony;
* The leadership's pandering to
a minuscule section of the Muslim elite and neglect of the ordinary sections
of the community;
* Concentration of power in a coterie
around Thangal.
Across Kerala and, significantly,
in the IUML strongholds in the state's northern districts, Muslims came
out against the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) and the IUML in the
elections. The reasons for Muslim apathy were many but none as pressing
as the massacre in Marad. The tiny fishing village near Kozhikode was rocked
by two incidents of communal violence in the past two years. The community
believes that the Antony Government had succumbed to pressure from the
BJP and RSS in formulating the rehabilitation of Muslim families. Says
O. Abdullah, an ideologue of the Jamaath Islami, "The IUML did nothing
about Antony's utter disregard for Muslim sentiments and his open pandering
to the Hindutva brigade. At Marad, the IUML did nothing when a woman rss
activist spat on the face of one of its ministers." Abdullah says Muslims
moved away from the UDF, of which the IUML is a leading constituent, because
of Antony's anti- minority statements and his refusal to ban the VHP's
trident distribution programme.
Another major critic of the IUML
is the popular Sunni cleric Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobaker Musaliyar, who played
a major role in its defeat in Manjeri. The Sunnis of Kanthapuram have often
been dubbed "Sickle Sunnis" for their hostility to the IUML and their sympathies
for the Left during elections.
The community and the party ranks
were also critical of the leadership's functioning as an "elitist club"
distanced from ordinary members. What came in for attack particularly was
the recent grant of the IUML's Rajya Sabha membership to a rich Gulf-based
businessman overlooking the claims of party functionaries. "It illustrates
the leadership's utter disregard for ordinary members and also hard-working
leaders," said a leader of the Youth League.
However, there are many who feel
that the IUML's decline has opened the door for fundamentalist elements
in the community. Extremist organisations like the National Development
Front (NDF), Progressive Democratic Party and some Sunni groups had actively
campaigned against the IUML's "appeasement" of Antony. The Left Democratic
Front, which calls the IUML communal, had no qualms in taking the support
of these groups. Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan of the CPI(M), a
veteran IUML-baiter, justifies the move: "It is the IUML which is responsible
for communalising politics. As for the other organisations, how can we
say no to anyone who gives us unsolicited support and votes?"
However, observers point to the
recent growth of Islamic fundamentalist elements in Kerala with liberal
financial support from the Gulf. Incidents of criminal acts by such elements
have been on the rise and culminated in the Marad massacre last year when
eight Hindus were hacked to death. "I believe the Muslim community has
largely lost faith in the traditional leadership. The young are gravitating
towards militancy and the space from where moderate organisations like
the IUML are being crowded out is being taken up by fundamentalist groups,"
says former director- general of police P.J. Alexander. But Hamza, the
first ever Marxist MP from Manjeri, differs: "The space being vacated by
communal organisations like the IUML is being taken up by secular forces
like the Left."
The IUML is caught in a predicament.
To salvage its prestige and retrieve lost ground in the community, it will
have to effect changes not only in the organisation but the UDF Government
as well. Pressure is mounting within the IUML to press for the replacement
of Antony as chief minister. That may seem like an outlandish demand from
a junior coalition partner but in its current state, the IUML has to keep
making noises just to stay afloat.
