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Thiruvananthapuram : Congress top brass’s endorsement of the construction of a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya has left the party’s Kerala ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) fretting and fuming.
Seasoned players in Kerala’s coalition politics, IUML leaders are wise enough to know that construction of the temple at Ayodhya is a fait accompli, after last year’s apex court verdict paving the way for that. They are also aware of the national compulsions of the Congress to formulate a positive stance on the issue. What jolted the party leadership, however, was the tacit choice of the Congress high command to go open on the eve of the Bhoomi puja.
Initially, top IUML functionaries chose to ignore statements from second-rung leaders of the Congress like Kamal Nath elatedly supporting the temple construction. When his attention was drawn to the matter, IUML all-India general secretary and Lok Sabha member P K Kunhalikutty had dismissed the issue saying that the party would not give any weight to views expressed by these people.
He went on to add that what really mattered was the official position of the topmost leadership and reaffirmed his party’s total confidence in Nehru-Gandhi family’s unflinching commitment to secularism and religious harmony. That wishful thinking, however, went into a toss with AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi terming the upcoming Ram Temple as a symbol of national unity.
Essentially a Kerala-based party, IUML has been a long-time partner in the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), though it had its first shot at power in the CPI (M)-led left front in 1967-69. The party is still an electoral force to reckon with in the Malabar region in north Kerala, with Muslim majority Malappuram district being its heartland.
Significantly, the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency that elected former AICC president Rahul Gandhi encompasses parts of Malappuram district. The IUML workers had left no stone unturned to ensure that Gandhi won with an impressive margin.
The IUML leaders would have drawn some comfort if top Congress leaders kept silent over the Bhoomi puja at Ayodhya that saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharing the dais RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat.
Despite its discomfiture, no one expects the Ayodhya development to seriously rupture the IUML-Congress ties or trigger a political polarisation when the state assembly polls are due in less than a year. The party, however, has to gear up to face unpleasant questions from ruling LDF as well as radical Islamic groups over its continued partnership with the Congress.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has fired the first salvo at the IUML, saying the party has remained an ally of the Congress despite its failure to avoid demolition of Babri Masjid. The Marxist leader alluded that the IUML leaders have no qualms in compromising the genuine interests of the Muslim community for the sake of power and pelf.
For IUML, attack from the mainstream political adversary is on expected lines. The more virulent flipside of the story is going to be the broadside from fundamental and radical Islamic fringe, which has gained their foothold in many parts of the state. For long, these elements, who masquerade themselves under the broad label ‘political Islam’ though they overlap into multifarious outfits and fronts, have been targeting to wean Muslim masses away from IUML.
The ongoing NIA investigation into the sensational gold smuggling case has thrown up clues the deep penetration of the state’s radical fringe. A key angle being probed by the agency is whether part of the ill-gotten money from gold smuggling has gone into financing anti-national activities by radical outfits.
The IUML leaders, however, have made it clear that the party is not going to break ranks with the Congress. They assert that Congress is still the sole national force strong enough to counter the majoritarian rampage of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar. They reject the Left as a credible option to join hands with dubbing it as totally incapable of resisting the grim assault being mounted by the Hindutva forces on the secular system of the country.
Though sections in the party are miffed, leaders who hold sway over the organisation are firm in their view that parting ways with the Congress would not be wise at this juncture. In the past also, the party had faced such touchy situations due to divergence with the Congress on some vital issues.
There had been intense internal pressure in the party to remain neutral when the first Manmohan Singh government was pushed into a spot when the Left withdrew support over a civil nuclear pact with America. The party leadership had then prevailed over the sceptics and continued its support and participation in the government.
It is not easy for the party to shift to the LDF before the assembly polls due in May 2021. In the UDF, IUML holds the second slot after the Congress. In previous UDF ministries, its nominees had held plum portfolios. Going by the trend of the state alternating between the two rival coalitions every five years, the UDF stands a good chance to gain power after the polls. So, if the party assumes a hard ideological position it will be a loser in every sense. This means, after some protestations, the party would quietly gloss over the irritation caused by the Congress.
