KOZHIKODE: Adding to the misery of the UDF in general and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in particular, Muslim organisations are increasingly coming forward expressing deep concern over the ‘surprising and shocking’ stand of the state government on the issue of inducting non-Muslim members in the Kerala Waqf Board. They want the ruling front to follow the path of the Tamil Nadu and former LDF governments, which challenged the provision in the Waqf (Amendment) Act in the Supreme Court.
Addressing a press conference in Ernakulam last week, Muslim Mahallu Koottayma patron Aliyar Qazimi said the UDF government has filed an affidavit in the High Court and the Supreme Court saying that it has no objection to appointing non-Muslims to the board. “A secular government can never take such a stand,” he said, adding that the IUML, a constituent of the UDF, cannot agree to this stand.
“Congress leaders including opposition leader [in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi] and K C Venugopal strongly opposed the legislation in Parliament and outside,” Qazimi said. “The divisive agenda of the BJP is behind the move. The Tamil Nadu government has taken the stand that its decision will be based on the Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter,” he said.
Meanwhile, IUML detractors are using the opportunity to put the party on the defensive.
The Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS), the youth wing of the Kanthapuram faction of Sunnis, said the state government’s stand in the Supreme Court has the IUML in a bind.
“The only hope to defeat the anti-minority act was the legal fight in the Supreme Court. The Kerala government has even extinguished that hope. The consequences of the immature legislation will be far-reaching, similar to the Babri Masjid issue. More than the chief minister, it was the duty of the political leadership of the community to keep a vigil on the issue,” SYS general secretary Rahmathullah Saquafi Elamaram said in a Facebook post on Friday.
CPM state secretariat member P Rajeeve said the silence of the IUML on Chief Minister V D Satheesan’s prevarication that all cases have been settled and that it is binding on the government to include non-Muslims on the board is a great treachery. “The IUML, which is a party to the case, knows very well that hearing will begin on August 25. The Supreme Court is mainly considering the legal validity of the provision to include non-Muslims, “ he said.
Rajeeve said the LDF and Tamil Nadu governments had taken the stand that the vacancies need not be filled till a final decision is taken.
“The UDF regime that decided to include non-Muslims citing an adverse order is in fact a BJP government,” he said. The CPM leader added that the IUML is also standing with the BJP on the issue.
