KOZHIKODE: In a significant break from the past that points to the change of perception in the Muslim community, the Muslim Students Federation (MSF) has elected three women to its state leadership. On Saturday, the feeder organisation of the IUML inducted Ayesha Banu P H, Rumaiza Rafeeq and Adv Thohani K as vice-president and secretaries, respectively.
Ayesha is the state president of Haritha, the female wing of the MSF, while Rumaiza is its state general secretary. Thohani is the Malappuram district president of Haritha. Rumaiza was recently elected to the Calicut University Senate from the student constituency. Though Fatima Thahliya, former leader of Haritha, was made the national vice-president of MSF, women’s representation was practically nil in the leadership of IUML and its youth wing, Muslim Youth League.The current decision is seen as a precursor to similar changes in the parent party IUML and Muslim Youth League.
Former Haritha leaders, who were later ousted from the organisation, had raised the issue of non-representation of women in the decision-making forums of the outfit. The issue of personal insult suffered by the women at the hands of some in the MSF leadership was later elevated to the level of a meaningful debate on the representation of women and their role in student politics.“We are proud and happy that we could act as the pressure point that compelled the leadership to take such a decision,” said Najma Thabsheera, former leader of Haritha.
She said it’s only a matter of time before women are included in the IUML leadership. “But we hope that Haritha will not be disbanded with the inclusion of women in the MSF leadership. Haritha can be dissolved only after women are given equal or a decent representation in MSF,” said Najma.MSF state president P K Navas said the decision to induct women as state office-bearers was taken by a 10-member committee much earlier.
“The controversies came much later. The representation of women has become essential for the organisation now. We are filling the vacancies now and it is utilised for inducting women as state office-bearers,” he said.