Waqf Board recruitment row: IUML should clarify if it’s a religious or political outfit, says Kerala CM
"IUML is trying to create confusion among Muslims over recruitment to the State Wakf Board," said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan (File photo)Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hit out at the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), saying that the outfit was trying to create “confusion” among Muslim community members over the state government’s stand on appointments to the Waqf Board.
“IUML is trying to create confusion among Muslims over recruitment to the State Wakf Board. Government does not have an inflexible stand on leaving Wakf recruitment to the PSC, state recruitment agency. If someone claims that they have freehold over the community, we are not going to accept it. IUML should make clear whether it is a political party or religious outfit,’’ Vijayan said, addressing a CPI(M) conference in his home district of Kannur on Friday.
The CM’s statement came a day after IUML — an ally of the Congress in Kerala — held a ‘Waqf Board Protection’ rally in Kozhikode. It was organised against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s move to leave Waqf Board appointments to the state Public Service Commission (PSC).
After criticism over the decision, the Chief Minister held talks with pro-IUML Muslim scholars’ body SAMASTHA and said earlier this week that status quo will continue for recruitment to the Wakf Board. Since the talks, SAMASTHA appears to have distanced itself from the IUML over the issue.
Vijayan said on Friday that religious leaders of the community are convinced about the government’s stand.
“We have not adopted any stubborn stand on Wakf Board recruitment. We would discuss the issue with religious bodies. SAMASTHA president Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal and (AP Sunni leader) Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar are satisfied with government’s assurance. Only the (IUML) League is not convinced about it… It is not a problem for us,” he said.
The CM’s statements also come on the back of an attack by the IUML at its protest rally on Thursday. IUML state secretary Abdurahiman Kallai alleged that state minister P A Mohammed Riyas’s marriage with Vijayan’s daughter Veena was “adultery”.
Riyas, a former national president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), is the MLA from Beypore Assembly seat and was inducted into the state cabinet this year.
DYFI on Friday slammed the IUML, with the body’s state secretary V K Sanoj saying in a Facebook post that the remarks were “uncivilised”.
Kallai later expressed regret for his speech, saying he was only referring to the religious outlook and did not intend to hurt anyone’s sentiments.
(With PTI inputs)
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