MALAPPURAM : Since 1977, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has won from Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency in every general election. Back then, only male candidates contested from the seat.
Except in the 1998 general elections. That was when the Lok Sabha constituency saw its first-ever fight between a male and female candidate.
In fact, two women contested in the elections. CPI’s Minu Mumthas and BJP Ahalliya Sankar were pitted against League’s Gulam Mehmood Banatwalla. Though Banatwalla won by a whopping 1.04 lakh votes, a young Minu — she was just 25 then — garnered immense praise, and emerged a popular political figure after the elections, by securing 2.40 lakh votes in total and putting up a strong fight against Banatwalla.
A resident of Tirur in Malappuram, Minu had been interested in social work, especially women empowerment, from a very young age. So it was quite natural that when CPI decided to field a woman in Ponnani in 1998, her name topped the list.
“I was working as a Hindi teacher and serving as a social worker. The CPI decided to field me and I accepted. It was commendable that the party provided the opportunity to a woman. It was also an experiment by the party to wrest the constituency from IUML,” she says.
Among her star campaigners were then CM E K Nayanar and Left leader Paloli Mohammed Kutty. “I never got a chance to meet my rivals, including Banatwalla, back then. The schedule was tight, the party fixed the campaign programmes,” recalled Minu.
She said their campaign focused on development. “I promised people that I would bring development to the constituency. When I met Nayanar amid the campaign, he told me we should win,” she said.
Minu said barring a few people who believed politics is not for women, there were no major objections to her candidature, either from her community or her family. It ultimately turned out to be a one-time experiment. CPI never fielded a woman in the constituency again. In 2011, Minu quit CPI and joined Welfare Party of India and is currently its Tirur mandalam vice-president. An active political worker, Minu said she is disappointed with the representation, or lack thereof, of women in parties.
“No party is giving opportunities to women to win an election and clinch positions of power. Women are allowed to grow politically only till they hold a position in a local body. Parties are not interested in seeing women growing beyond that. To empower women, parties should give them opportunities to hold top positions in the organisation and the government,” Minu opined.