State of play
Currently devoid of power at the Centre and in the State, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the second largest partner in the Congress-led UDF, is standing at a crossroads in Kerala politics.
The party was a part of the Congress-led UPA at the national level. It did not expect the Narendra Modi government to return for a second time at the Centre in 2019. Nor did it expect the ruling CPI (Marxist)-led LDF coalition to win a consecutive term in the 2021 Kerala Assembly polls breaking a decades-old tradition of two dominant pre-poll alliances in the State being alternatively voted to power.
Nine months after the Assembly elections debacle, the IUML leadership finds itself in a state of political wilderness. The IUML has strong bases in north Kerala, especially in Malappuram district, and has been in the forefront of Muslim communitarian politics. But the political events nationwide have led the IUML to worry, as they tend to have a permanent effect on the party in the long run in Kerala. Besides, the Congress in the State is still beset by petty factionalism despite the change in leadership.
Adding to the IUML’s discomfiture is the emergence of minor Muslim parties such as the Social Democratic Party of India and the Welfare Party of India, disgruntlement in the rank and file of the IUML, and its love-hate relationship with the Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama, the largest Sunni body, which the IUML supports.
Against this backdrop, some recent developments gave rise to rumours of a new political alliance. LDF-backed independent legislator K.T. Jaleel, who had left the IUML earlier, and has been successfully contesting on the Left platform, trained his guns on IUML national general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty in connection with irregularities to the tune of ₹1,021 crore at the AR Nagar Service Co-operative Bank at Malappuram run by the IUML. The CPI(M) expressed its displeasure with Mr. Jaleel for raising allegations against Mr. Kunhalikutty. Then, reports of a meeting between Mr. Jaleel and Mr. Kunhalikutty at the house of an NRI businessman in Malappuram triggered speculation about the prospects of a CPI(M)-IUML electoral alliance in Kerala. Mr. Jaleel shared pictures of him and Mr. Kunhalikutty on Facebook, and CPI(M) Central Committee member T.M. Thomas Isaac also made comments praising Mr. Kunhalikutty.
Also read | IUML rejects talk about switching coalitions
However, neither is the CPI(M) leadership in any hurry to have an electoral understanding with the IUML nor is the IUML waiting to align with the CPI(M). The leaders of both parties know that elections are still far away. But for the time being, the CPI(M) has deftly accommodated dissident IUML leaders from Kozhikode and Malappuram districts and also inducted the breakaway faction of the IUML of 20 years, the Indian National League, into the LDF fold.
Even if Mr. Kunhalikutty gets close to the CPI(M) leadership, a section led by the powerful Panakkad family that controls the IUML would be against the party forging a tie-up with the CPI(M). Two decades ago, such an idea was scuttled even before it came to the table.
Technically, the IUML is the fourth largest party in Kerala after the CPI(M), the Congress and the BJP in terms of popular votes. However, before experimenting with fresh political alliances, the party has a herculean task: it has to mend fences with the Samastha, take steps to counter growing Islamic communalism, and rebuild the camaraderie it had with the Christian and Nair communities.
biju.govind@thehindu.co.in
