Just when the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) was grappling with internal contradictions and struggling to tame the powerful Sunni body, the Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama which the party supports, the recently-elected CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan stirred a hornet’s nest by endorsing the secular credentials of the IUML.
The abrupt overtures by the CPI(M) leader to the IUML, a party that the Left parties had always branded as a communal outfit, sent jitters across the two main coalitions in Kerala — the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) led by the Congress and the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), headed by the CPI(M).
The IUML leaders, including the party State president Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, while welcoming the CPI(M) leader’s words of appreciation also asserted that the party had no plans to switch loyalties from the UDF to the ruling Left front.
“We are strongly rooted in the UDF,” Mr. Thangal categorically stated.
Aware that any reciprocal move by the IUML would leave the UDF in shambles, Congress leaders responded to Mr. Govindan’s remarks with caution and a bit of sarcasm. Opposition leader V.D. Satheesan said it was heartening that the CPI(M) had finally realised that the IUML was not a communal outfit. Former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Muraleedharan was more blunt with his remark that the UDF would be considerably weakened if the IUML opted out.
The CPI, understandably edgy over the prospect of losing the status of the second biggest LDF coalition partner to a newcomer, termed Mr. Govindan’s statement as immature and felt that it was not the responsibility of the Left parties to issue a character certificate to the IUML.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, views the CPI(M) bid to woo the IUML as a dangerous attempt to divide Kerala society on communal lines.
Political analysts observe that CPI(M) is trying to woo the Muslim community through the IUML as the party knows it is gradually losing popularity in Kerala after coming to power for a second consecutive time.
Mr. Govindan’s statement, many believe, was also aimed at sowing the seeds of confusion within the UDF at a time when the IUML had expressed unhappiness with KPCC president K. Sudhakaran’s controversial pro-RSS statement.
Besides, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was holding direct discussions with the Samastha leaders on various issues such as Waqf board appointments and the controversial proposal to implement gender neutrality in education.
Though the IUML leadership has so far not responded to the CPI(M)‘s gestures, there are indications that a section within the party is craving for a shift in political equations because it feels the IUML is spending time in the wilderness without power at the Centre as well in the State.
For quite some time, the CPI(M) leadership in Kerala has been wooing the communitarian parties, especially since the BJP government led by Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre in 2014. The party seems to have been emboldened to woo the IUML after it won over a sizeable section of the Christian community in Kerala by bringing the Kerala Congress(M) into the LDF fold in 2020, dealing a heavy blow to the UDF in Central Travancore, which was once its political bastion.
With 15 Assembly seats, the IUML is the second largest contingent in the UDF after the Congress with 21 seats.
But the CPI(M) is also wary of upsetting its core voter base by wooing communitarian parties. Political commentators feel that Mr. Govindan had only taken up where former CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan left with his outreach to the IUML.
Incidentally, the IUML leadership appears to be divided on the recent allegations raised against LDF convenor E.P. Jayarajan by his party colleague and CPI(M) State committee member P. Jayarajan. The section in the IUML camp that yearns for a tie-up with the CPI(M) has dismissed the issue as an internal matter of that party.
Whether the IUML leadership takes a historic decision to shift allegiance to the CPI(M)-led LDF will be determined by changes in the political landscape in the State. But that is unlikely to happen until the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
