The recent Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute case has apparently left the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leadership struggling to strike a golden mean between hawkish elements and the party-backed Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama.
Ahead of the verdict, the party had taken a stand to ‘‘accept” the judgment with forbearance and asked the people not to be swayed by attempts to provoke intolerance.
But after the verdict, the leadership took a moderate stand saying that the party “respects” the verdict and asked workers to exercise self-restraint.
Disappointing
Less than a week later, a special meeting of the party held in Malappuram termed the apex court verdict as “disappointing” and formed a committee to hold discussions with various Muslim organisations and like-minded secular organisations to decide the future course of action.
Critical views
Already the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, a powerful body of the Sunnis, has been critical of the ‘‘inert attitude’’ of the party even as various other Muslim organisations, from the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Popular Front of India, being more vocal against the verdict.
Its president Syed Mohammed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal has even deputed organisation general secretary K. Alikutty Musaliar to attend a meeting of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on November 24.
The Samastha also attested to the viewpoint of the AIMPLB against accepting the five-acre alternative land given for a mosque and wanted to file a review petition against the verdict.
Incidentally, IUML State president Panakkad Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal is also the vice president of the Samastha.
Post-Babri role
What troubles the IUML leadership is that the situation in the State is different from the period when the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992.
Then the IUML had played a pivotal role in maintaining harmony when the country erupted in communal flare-up even as hardcore members walked out of the party to form the Indian National League.
However, the incident has also spawned several fundamentalist outfits though the party had extensively worked to keep the Muslim youths straying towards extremism.
Hindu votes
Now the IUML, being a major partner in the Congress-led United Democratic Front, also depended on Hindu votes for its electoral survival in many Assembly segments in Kozhikode, Malappuram, and Kannur districts.
How the party carries the day within itself as well as in the political spectrum is to be seen at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making a determined bid to gain a foothold in the State.
