THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : In his close to seven-decades-long political journey, Thottathil Hydrose Musthafa was never far from controversies – from ration scam to calling Rahul Gandhi ‘joker’ to commenting women should stay indoors. Belonging to an affluent family in Perumbavoor, Musthafa had dropped out of high school as he felt the local schools were not up to the mark. After he grew in stature as a politician, Musthafa’s daredevilry came to the fore when the Congress was going through a lean phase.
Old-timers recall how he took out a gun from his pocket when CPM activists prevented him from addressing a crowd of Congress workers at Kulathoor in Thiruvananthapuram. It is said that none knew whether he had a licence to carry a gun, which has remained a mystery.
After the Congress split in 1978, Musthafa joined hands with K Karunakaran to constitute the Indira Congress and strove to strengthen the party’s base. The duo travelled the length and breadth of the state, helping lay the foundation of the party in the state. The effort helped him have excellent rapport with former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. After their deaths, Musthafa’s political career began to wane. In 2014, he was suspended from his Congress membership after he termed Rahul Gandhi a “joker” following the Lok Sabha poll debacle.
An excellent orator, Musthafa often enthralled the party workers with his oratorial skills. A Congress leader from Kochi recalled how Musthafa spoke for a record five hours without a break on state and national politics in one go until Rajiv Gandhi reached the venue. A majority of the party leaders had gone to a nearby hotel to take rest when Musthafa decided to keep the audience entertained.
Senior Congress leader A K Antony told TNIE that Musthafa was a “fearless” leader who had always been a “warrior”, right from his school days. “No other Congress leader has inspired the party workers in Ernakulam district like Musthafa. He used to feel piqued about certain things. But at the end of the day, Musthafa would relentlessly fight for the Congress as he wouldn’t do anything that might weaken the party. He has always been a true secular leader,” Antony said.
There was a time when having a ration shop was considered a prestigious asset. When Musthafa was the food and civil supplies minister in the Karunakaran-led UDF government during 1991-95, the grapevine was that he would ask the ration dealer aspirants to donate Rs 10,000 to the district Congress committees, which were financially weak, and to bring the receipts along with the DCC presidents’ letter. That way, he killed two birds with one stone, which is something unimaginable in this era. During his tenure as minister, Musthafa was also embroiled in the infamous palmolein scam that saw 15, 000 tonnes of edible oil being imported from Malaysia at inflated prices, causing the exchequer a loss of Rs 2.8 crore. But none of the charges against him could be proved.
Musthafa also came under the wrath of women for his controversial comment that they should stay indoors after actor Swetha Menon levelled molestation charges against a senior Congress MP during a boat race in Kollam in 2013.
