The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) proposal mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought the rival Muslim groups to a platform of unity where they share a single agenda: to oppose the UCC. Never before did the Muslim groups, particularly the rival Sunni sects led by Syed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal and Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliar, come so close to share a single agenda concerning the community.
In separate statements in recent days, both leaders as well as the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) supremo Syed Sadikali Shihab Thangal called for the necessity of standing together to resist the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) move to impose the UCC. And all of them welcomed one another’s statements, sending home overtures of organisational reunion.
The statement of Mr. Aboobacker Musliar that he would be happy to cooperate with the rival Sunni group and the IUML sparked a wave of positive reactions from the community. It was widely perceived as a rare gesture by Mr. Aboobacker Musliar, whose unproclaimed allegiance to the CPI(M) is no secret in the community politics of Kerala.
