When K.S. Hamza, the CPI(M) candidate in Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency, visited the graves of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leaders Syed P.M.S.A. Pookoya Thangal and Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal at Panakkad before filing his nomination on Wednesday, it did not surprise the political circles in Malabar. Mr. Hamza described the ziyarat or visit to the graves as personal and there was nothing political in it. But he was quick to add that had Hyderali Shihab Thangal been alive, the IUML would not have fallen into “such a pathetic state”.
Mr. Hamza wanted to send home the message that he was an IUML man to the core, but a dissident who drifted away from the party because of differences with the current leadership. For the CPI(M), which even rubbed shoulders with PDP leader Abdul Nasir Maudani in Ponnani in 2009, it hardly matters. Mr. Hamza’s electoral ticket in Ponnani has been part of the CPI(M)’s long-drawn experiment with dissident and independent Muslim candidates.
But this time, the CPI(M) has given the party’s election symbol hammer sickle and star to Mr. Hamza. It’s for the first time that a non-CPI(M) man is contesting on the CPI(M) symbol in Ponnani. Political observers point out that the CPI(M) had no choice but to give its symbol to an IUML dissident because of the increasing concern over losing the symbol.
