The Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, the largest organisation of traditional Islamic clergy in Kerala mononymously known as the Samastha, has taken a dispassionate stand with regard to political party representatives attending the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
“The Samastha has nothing to do with Ayodhya. The Samastha does not care if any political party, including the Congress, attends the Ayodhya temple inauguration. It will not affect the Samastha at all,” said Samastha president Syed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal.
Addressing the media in Kozhikode on Saturday, Thangal said the Ram Mandir consecration in Ayodhya was a religious matter of a community. “Political parties have the freedom to accept or decline the invite for the function. Anyway, we have nothing to do with that,” he said.
He asserted that the Samastha would not comment or formulate policies on matters that do not concern it. He also distanced himself from an editorial two days ago in the Samastha mouthpiece Suprabhatham asking the Congress whether it would attend the temple consecration in the land where the Babri Masjid had been demolished.
“It’s true Suprabhatham is ours. But it is a newspaper. What it says does not have to be the policy of the Samastha, which is a body of Islamic scholars,” said Mr. Thangal.
He said whoever goes to Ayodhya and attends the consecration will not hurt the Muslim community’s sentiments.
Thangal said the centenary celebrations of the Samastha would begin at Palace Grounds, Bengaluru, on January 28. However, he said the centenary celebrations being planned by the breakaway faction led by Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliar could not be called Samastha’s.
“Anyone can hold a celebration. Anyone can pay a visit to the shrine of former Samastha general secretary E.K. Aboobacker Musliar,” he said referring to Kanthapuram’s recent ziyarat (visit) to E.K. Aboobacker Musliar’s grave.
However, the Kanthapuram group has spurned speculations created by a section of the media about his recent ziyarat. Group leaders said Ustad (Kanthapuram) had visited E.K. Aboobacker Musliar’s grave several times before and there was nothing new about it.
