KOZHIKODE: Vanitha League state leader Suhra Mampad has drawn severe criticism online for omitting the name of Fathima Thahiliya, IUML’s first woman MLA in Kerala, in a social media post celebrating the collective growth of the party’s women wing.
Younger party supporters were quick to point out and criticise the omission. Many accused the leadership of “ego” and “jealousy”. The intensity of the criticism highlights a growing impatience among youth wings who see Fathima’s rise as a turning point that senior figures are allegedly slow to embrace.
Suhra had penned the celebratory post on Monday following a state committee meeting at the League House in Kozhikode. In it, she had praised the collective struggle of the Vanitha League against “anti-women policies”.
“It is my personal responsibility to ensure the growth and status of my dear colleagues who worked through all crises in the past and continue the struggle today,” read the post. Suhra had also emphasised the grassroots labour of long-term members. “Dear colleagues, this is also your victory. You are the ones who prepared the ground, sowed the seeds and protected the harvest,” she said in the post which also mentioned the CAA protests and cyber attacks from CPM workers.
However, her failure to explicitly name the MLA-elect from Perambra or offer a specific congratulatory note on her victory drew fierce backlash from younger party supporters and cyber-activists, who quickly flooded the comments section with criticism. One noted the irony of claiming a victory for womanhood while failing to acknowledge the party’s first female legislator. Others called for the removal of “older generation” leaders to make way for new blood.
In a defiant and lengthy response posted a day later on Tuesday, Suhra condemned the ageist slurs and vitriol directed at her and questioned the political culture of her attackers. “Who taught you to react without any decency based on your assumptions? Are terms like ‘old woman’ and ‘aunty’ the League politics you have learnt?,” she wrote. Suhra also reminded the youth that the organisation’s current strength was not built overnight.
“This did not sprout in a single morning; we built it through hard work. It is our blood and our sweat,” she asserted, adding that if she were driven by jealousy as her critics alleged, she could have secured parliamentary positions long ago.
Suhra clarified that her post was not a reflection of her personal interactions with Fathima. In a postscript, she said her speech at the meeting actually began by thanking the party for fielding women candidates and congratulating Fathima.
“You can ask Fathima Thahiliya whether I congratulated her or not,” said Suhra. Expressing “deep disappointment” with the behaviour of party supporters, she said that those using such abusive language should remove the IUML flag from their social media profiles.
