Stable but at times strained relationship between the Samastha faction of Sunnis and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is yet to show any sign of any serious trouble. The recent overtures of the IUML to the Welfare Party of India (WPI) of the Jamat-e-Islami (JeI) for a tactical alliance for the upcoming local body elections have apparently irked the faction.
The announcement of IUML general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty recently that a plan for having an electoral understanding with organisations and parties outside the United Democratic Front (UDF) such as the WPI is under discussion sparked a row. Muslim Youth League (MYL) leader P.K. Firoz aired his dissent against the move to make any alliance with organisations such as the WPI and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).
CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and other leaders were quick to flay the IUML for its reported move to have an alliance with extremist organisations in the Muslim community. IUML State general secretary K.P.A. Majeed later played down the controversy when he clarified that there was no disagreement in the party over an alliance that had not yet been discussed.
The latest to lash out at the IUML for its alleged move to forge alliance with the WPI is Umar Faizi Mukkam, mushavara (supreme body) member of the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, known as the Samastha Sunni faction.
In an article in the faction’s mouthpiece Suprabhaatham daily on June 1, he wrote that any ‘unethical’ deals with Muslim organisations holding extremist political views will endanger the State’s equilibrium. Terming the WPI as a political pawn of the JeI, he said that any political understanding with it is equal to self-destruction.
He said the JeI, a political-religious organisation with international dimension, had helped portray Islam as an extremist political organisation that was intolerant to other belief systems. He said that any alliance with it would make it easier for the BJP to emerge as a prominent force in State politics.
The IUML leadership’s awareness that organisations such as the WPI and the SDPI of the Popular Front of India are making inroads in Malabar, especially Malappuram, the heartland of the IUML, may have forced the party leadership to think about making an electoral deal for local body elections. The WPI had openly supported the UDF candidates in the 2019 general election. The reported meeting of party leaders Mr. Kunhalikutty and E.T. Muhammed Basheer, MP, with SDPI State president Abdul Majeed Faisi in a hotel at Kondotty in Malappuram before the Lok Sabha election had drawn criticism that the IUML was joining hands with communal forces.
The Samastha faction has always supported the IUML, while the rival Markaz faction led by Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar is known for its tilt towards the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Like the former, the latter too keeps the JeI at arm’s length as it believes that the ideology of political Islam shaped by Islamist thinker Abul Ala Maududi, JeI's founder, inspired outfits such as ISIS. It is early days yet to predict whether the IUML can afford to ignore the warning message from the Samastha faction.