THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The influential Sunni organisation Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama (EK faction) has initiated steps to establish a direct channel of communication with the chief minister on matters concerning the Muslim community, representation in government committees and religious affairs, in a move that could alter its traditional relationship with the IUML.
The move is being viewed as unprecedented as the League has traditionally dealt with issues concerning Samastha and the Muslim community in successive UDF governments.
The move is being viewed by the League leadership as an attempt to recreate the circumstances that prevailed under the previous LDF government. During the LDF’s tenure, then CM Pinarayi Vijayan had established direct contact with both Sunni factions, effectively denying the League the role of an intermediary.
A representation submitted by Samastha president Sayyid Muhammad Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal to V D Satheesan on July 13, within two months of the new government assuming office, reveals that the organisation’s attempt to establish direct communication with the CM had begun much earlier.
In the representation, which came to light recently, Jifri Thangal had requested the CM to initiate discussions with Samastha on appointments to the State Haj Committee, Waqf Board, Minority Welfare and Backward Classes Corporation, Madrasa Teachers Welfare Fund Board, State Curriculum Committee and NORKA.
However, following the reconstitution of the Waqf Board, Samastha leaders feel that the EK faction was denied adequate representation. “We suspect that appointing a person who had been suspended from Samastha’s supreme council was an act against the organisation’s leadership,” said a Samastha leader.
“We met the CM in October in connection with Samastha’s centenary celebrations,” Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama general secretary P P Umar Musliyar Koyyode, who led the delegation, told TNIE. He said the organisation had submitted a list of demands to the CM. “The CM had assured us that our demands would be considered sympathetically,” Umar Musliyar said.
