KOZHIKODE: IUML state secretary MK Muneer’s criticism of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels have infuriated the Left parties in the UDF, with RMPI leader K K Rema terming the League leader’s remarks as “vulgar”.
“Muneer’s remarks should be condemned. He does not know anything about Marx and Engels or Marxist ideology. But he deliberately used the worst kind of language which hurt all Marxists. I don’t know his real intention behind the remarks,” Rema, MLA from Vadakara, said.
CMP leader C P John said the ideology of Marxist thinkers should not be evaluated based on their personal lives. “I didn’t agree to the recent dragging of the life of Prophet Muhammad, who lived more than 1,440 years ago. A person should be evaluated against the background of the place and times he or she lived,” John said. “I believe that Muneer is a person who studied Marxism very well. The biography of the Marxist thinker Rosa Luxemburg written by me was published by him,” he said. John, however, said he had watched only a portion of the video of Muneer’s speech.
RSP leader N K Premachandran, MP, refused to react to Muneer’s remarks.Writer and social activist M N Karassery said he is surprised by the remarks as it had come from a person like Muneer. “This is not criticism. To criticise Pinarayi Vijayan government, one need not peep into Marx’s personal life,” he said during a television discussion. Karassery said Marx lived a frugal life even though he had the qualification to get a good job, because he was committed to working for the poor. Addressing the MSF conclave here on Sunday, Muneer said the founders of Communism led an anarchic sexual life and maintained no personal hygiene.
Meanwhile, some Muslim organisations have come forward to defend Muneer on his comments on gender neutrality. Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS) working secretary Abdul Hameed Faizi said not just Muneer and IUML, but the entire Muslims will stay with the ‘changeless Islam’.
AIDWA flays Muneer’s remarks
CPM’s women’s wing All India Democratic Women’s Association, has termed Muneer’s remarks against the idea of gender equality ‘disappointing’. As an elected representative, Muneer should correct his statement and support the government’s initiatives aimed at ensuring gender equality, the organisation demanded.