Kerala Election Results: CPM overcomes smear campaign by Muslim League, Jamaat

Welfare Party of India state president Hameed Vaniyambalam also denied that his party had organised any campaign against the CPM in the elections. 
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. (Photo | Albin Mathew, EPS)
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. (Photo | Albin Mathew, EPS)

KOZHIKODE: The CPM has made significant inroads into the Muslim-dominated areas in Malabar overcoming the concerted move by the IUML and Jamaat-e-Islami to paint the party as an anti-community outfit. Muslim League mouthpiece ‘Chandrika’ daily carried an article by Muslim scholar Bahaudeen Nadvi Kooriyad on the election day which cautioned that madrassa education will land in peril if the Communists came to power. Earlier, IUML state secretary MK Muneer had also written a series in the daily highlighting the ‘anti-Muslim’ attitude of the Communists.

Jamaat leader Sheikh Muhammad Karakkunnu came up with a series of posts on Facebook against Communists as a reply to the book by CPM leader K T Kunhikannan. Jamaat supporters had brought out a book that accused the CPM of propagating Islamophobia.However, the results of the elections hint that such campaign did not work in favour of the Muslim League in Malabar. The party’s vote base shrank mainly in Malappuram district and its performance in other areas is not very encouraging either.It lost sitting seats like Azhikode, Kozhikode South and Kuttiyadi. Muslim votes helped the LDF give an impressive show in various constituencies in Malabar.

Other Muslim organisations had not shown any inclination towards the IUML-Jamaat propaganda. The Kanthapuram faction of Sunnis stood behind the LDF and the PDP openly made a call to support the front. The SDPI also did not show any special antagonism to the CPM in the elections.Reacting to the results, Sunni leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musaliyar said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had taken a very positive approach to the Muslim issues.

“He consulted Muslim leaders while taking a decision on issues related to the places of worship. The decision to entrust the local bodies with giving sanction on the construction of places of worship and the intervention on welfare fund for madrassa teachers were exemplary,” he said.

Kanthapuram said Pinarayi was in the forefront of the anti-CAA agitation and instrumental in making it a constitutional issue rather than a problem of the Muslims. “The care the government took on the CAA issue was evident when I talked to him at the venue of the conferences held against the Act,” he said.  Welfare Party of India state president Hameed Vaniyambalam also denied that his party had organised any campaign against the CPM in the elections. 

“There were talks that the CPM and BJP had struck a deal in the elections, but the initial reading of the results does not support the theory. A clear picture will emerge only after a detailed analysis,” he said.
Vaniyambalam said CPM had created fear over IUML taking control of the UDF and the possibility of P K Kunhalikutty becoming the chief minister in the event of a UDF victory. “This might have some impact on the Christian votes in the elections,” he said.

Sheikh Muhammad Karakunnu said his organisation had not carried out any campaign against the CPM in the elections. “What we did was only replying to the baseless allegations raised by the CPM,” he said.

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