Muslim League is indeed the green star of Kerala

By Najiya O, TwoCircles.net,

Malappuram: The election results that came out on May 13, 2011 will surely mark its place in the history of Kerala. The people of the state have voted for the UDF, yet it was not a vote against the LDF government. The UDF will form the government but the LDF will have the Assembly’s single largest party – CPI (M) with 47 MLAs. The next five years are going to be real tough for the UDF with 72 MLAs as the LDF with 68 MLAs has vowed to be a strong and creative Opposition (and Kerala knows they really can be a tough opposition). And one of the most important factors regarding this election is the rise of the Muslim League from 7 (plus an independent) in the last Assembly to 20 MLAs, which will give it a crucial position in the state politics.

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The Muslim League won 20 of the 24 seats it contested. P Ubaidullah who won from Malappuram has bagged the largest margin of 44,508 in the state. Next only to him is party general secretary PK Kunjalikkutty who got 63,138 votes with a winning margin of 38,237 votes. National general secretary Abdussamad Samadani won by a margin of 35,902 votes in Kottakkal, his winning margin being the third highest in the state. Out of the 20 winners, 11 won over a 10,000 votes lead, with four having more than 30,000 votes’ lead.

Winning UDF candidate M. K. Muneer greets followers after declaration of results in Kozhikode. [Photo courtesy: thehindu.com]

Muslim League candidates who won Assembly poll 2011 in Kerala

Out of the 20 seats that the League has won, 12 are in Malappuram district which is the party’s safe haven where the party can give a fitting reply to the state conference of the CPI (M) by a mere district conference. Only the rest eight go to other districts – three in Kozhikode, two in Kasargod, and one each in Kannur, Ernakulam and Palakkad. The party won all the 12 seats it contested in Malappuram and it is said that there was no election mood at all in the League-dominant constituencies of the district like Vengara, Malappuram, Manjeri and Kondotty.

The four contestants who failed are UC Raman (Kunnamangalam), Soopi Narikkatteri (Kuttiadi), Ashraf Kokkoor (Guruvayur) and PKK Bava (Eravipuram). Mr Raman was the lone non-Muslim contestant of the party and was the sitting MLA of Kunnamangalam. He lost to PTA Raheem, a League rebel and CPI (M) independent who was the sitting MLA of Koduvally. Soopi Narikkatteri has recently been in news in connection with the violent strife between the League and the CPI (M) in Nadapuram in Kozhikode which even led to the death of five ‘suspected’ League members while making bombs in February this year in Nadapuram. Ashraf Kokkoor was defeated in his debut election by the sitting MLA and Waqf Board chairman MR KV Abdul Qader of the CPI (M). PKK Bava is a senior leader and was the former MLA of Eravipuram in Kollam district. Youth League president KM Shaji had lost in Eravipuram in the last Assembly election by a huge margin, which prompted the League leadership to give the reins back into Mr Bava’s hands. But that did not go right as the sitting MLA AA Azeez of RSP had already made the constituency his safe haven where he won by a margin of 8012 votes.

The candidacy of general secretary PK Kunjalikkutty was a major issue during the election time for not only the party but the whole state itself. The media speculated whether the leader, accused in a sex scandal, would be fielded again by the party especially since he was defeated by the rebel League leader KT Jaleel in the 2006 elections. In addition to these, new revelations had also come up showing that Kunjalikkutty had tried to influence the judiciary in the case. Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan brought the issue as an important matter and gave much coverage for it in almost all the venues he spoke. Despite all these, the Muslim League decided to field Mr Kunjalikkutty. The party found the new constituency of Vengara as a safe haven to field its leader without any fear of losing. It is said that Vengara was selected after conducting surveys which ensured the victory of Kunjalikkutty. Kunjalikkutty won with the second-largest majority in the state and now speculations are on regarding his position in the ministry.

While the League selected the secure seat of Vengara for a person like Kunjalikutty who doesn’t have a good image among the non-League people because of his alleged involvement in the ice-cream parlour sex scandal, it kept aside the comparatively insecure seats of Azheekode and Kozhikode South for Dr MK Muneer and KM Shaji, who are not as popular among the party members as among the general public. Both Mr Muneer, who is a secretary of the party and son of League’s former leader late CH Muhammed Koya, and KM Shaji, who is the president of the Muslim Youth League, are known for their stand on terrorism. They have been strong voice against ‘Islamic terrorism’ just like the so-called secular intellectuals and for the same reason, the two are not very popular among the League and the community but are apparently accepted by the general public. Muneer has also been in controversy regarding the revelations against Mr Kunjalikkutty that came in the news channel, of which Muneer is the chairman. Choosing the insecure seats for the two leaders the League made a big win – if they lost the party members would not be unhappy, and if they won that would be with the votes (and support) of the general public also. And their victory has in a way relieved it of a conflict within the party also. The two got the least margins among all the League candidates – Muneer with 1376 and Shaji with a mere 493.

The victory of the League in 20 seats and carving its place as the second-largest party in the UDF is indeed important for the party, especially since now it is clear the Kerala Congress (M) is only third in the front with just 9 seats. Both parties had only 7 MLAs in the last Assembly. The merger of the KC (J) in the KC (M) had raised hopes of the latter to overcome the League in the front. A better victory of the KC (M) and a poor performance of the League would have given the former a better bargaining power even to gain the Deputy CM post. However, now the ball is in the court of the League.

However, the victory of the party is also seen as the failure of the Congress and the UDF, which had to pay a dear price for the candidacy of PK Kunjalikkutty among others, mainly outside the Malappuram district and especially in southern Kerala. The CPI (M) and VS Achuthanandan could raise the issue so much as to say that the UDF was supporting ‘women-harassers’. While they were beneficial for the LDF in other parts to attack the UDF and the Congress, those very campaigns helped the League in Malappuram, where the party members took it as a crucifixion aimed at Kunjalikkutty in a state where many ministers and public personalities have been accused of women-harassment.

The Muslim League began by winning 11 out of the 12 seats it contested to the Assembly in 1960 and its presence was marked in the Assembly ever since – by 14 seats in 1982, 15 in 1987, 19 in 1991, 13 in 1996, 16 in 2001 and 7 in 2006. Before this election the most number of seats the League won in the Assembly was in 1991, when it secured 19 out of the 22 seats it contested. And it might be noted that the 1991 election saw the notorious ‘Co-Lea-B’ alliance of the Congress, League and the BJP. In this election also, there have been reports of secret agreements between the UDF and the BJP, by which the UDF did not field any strong candidate against BJP’s O Rajagopal in Nemom constituency. However, the League’s candidates could inflict a crushing defeat on the BJP candidates who apparently posed a big threat in north Kerala. PB Abdurazaq defeated K Surendran in Manjeshwar with a lead of 5828 votes and NA Nellikkunnu won in Kasargod against Jayalakshmi N Bhat with a margin of 9738 votes.

An important part of the rise of the League from 7 to 20 goes the unity that the party could manage to create among the major Muslim organizations in the state. The party and general secretary PK Kunjalikkutty were in the front to keep the major organizations in the community with the Muslim League, even before the Panchayat elections of 2010. The Panchayat elections saw the entry of the SDPI and the Janakeeya Munnanis led by the Jamat e Islami in the election zone. The Popular Front of India, the mother organisation of the SDPI, had earlier supported the UDF and the League and their sudden entry into elections would mean much loss to the League.

While, the Jamat e Islami had supported both the LDF and the UDF at times and its support was never entirely for the Muslim League. However, the entry of these two new sections would indeed have an effect on the Muslim voting pattern, so the League took precautions by holding an ‘anti-terrorism meeting’. All Muslim organizations but for the Jamat and the PFI-SDPI were invited to the meeting held at Kottakkal and the organizations apparently helped the League in the Panchayat elections and now in the Assembly elections, which helped the League secure such a big win. And in the present elections, the SDPI was in the poll fray and the Jamat extended support to the UDF in only 15 constituencies which included Kasargod, Manjeri, Kondotty, Malappuram and Eravipuram where the League had contested.

Now that it is time for the formation of the government, the League is again in the limelight. The party is reported to get five ministries with its remarkable victory. And besides the talks of its own ministries, it has other works also to do such as holding talks with other parties in the UDF with regard to the division of ministries. And above all it has to make sure that the UDF comes to power even though it has got only a very small majority in the Assembly.