Anti-UCC campaign: Breather for Cong, IUML to stay away from CPM plank

Had the IUML also lent its weight to the CPI(M) anti-UCC plank, it would have widened the gap between it and the Congress. The IUML, which is being actively wooed by the CPI(M), remains the Congress’s mainstay in North Kerala.

After a meeting of its party leaders in Malappuram, IUML state president Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said the party would not take part in the CPI(M) seminars against a UCC as the Congress had been kept away from it.

“The IUML is a part of the Congress-led UDF. Hence, our party can take a decision only in consultation with other allies of the UDF. The Congress can take the lead role in the fight against a UCC… We cannot fight against a UCC keeping the Congress out,’’ said Thangal.

With the Congress hold over Muslims weakening in recent years, the CPI(M)-led LDF has spotted an opening in winning the IUML over, projecting the alliance as the only one strong enough to hold back the BJP in Kerala. Given the emotive resonance of a UCC, both the UDF and LDF want to show themselves as more cognizant of Muslim fears on the issue.

Over the last one week, as BJP calls around a UCC have grown, the CPI(M), Congress and IUML have all announced campaigns against such a code.

Earlier, the CPI(M) made significant inroads into the Muslim community base in Kerala in 2020, by taking the lead in protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The Congress, with stakes in the Hindi heartland, was more circumspect in slamming the law seen as discriminatory towards Muslims.

The CPI(M)’s biggest success at the time was bringing rival Muslim groups, including the Samastha, onto a single platform.

The Samastha has again lined up behind the ruling party as the CPI(M) plans a series of seminars on a UCC, starting July 15. On Saturday, Samastha president Syed Muhammad Jifri Muthukoya Thangal said: “We will cooperate with any party that comes out against a UCC. We will also petition the Prime Minister against a UCC.”

The Samastha’s stand is a setback for the IUML as the influential Panakkad Thangal family of Malappuram, which is at the helm of the IUML, has considerable sway over the Samastha. Lately, the Samastha has also been staying away from agitations called by the IUML against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government.

The CPI(M) seems to have succeeded as far as planting a seed of discord within IUML ranks is concerned. Following the Samastha stand, the IUML, for example, did not outrightly reject the CPI(M) invitation to its seminars. Sunday’s meeting was meant to thrash out a consensus within the IUML.

The two-day gap, incidentally — from the time of the CPI(M)’s offer and its rejection by the IUML — followed despite a decision by the IUML state executive to “strengthen” the UDF ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

CPI(M) leaders led by its state secretary M V Govindan said: “We don’t carry a feeling of untouchability towards the IUML. A UCC would take the country towards fascism. We will back the IUML if their stand is in the right perspective. It is up to the IUML to take a decision on joining the LDF.”

The CPI(M) also hit a raw nerve by noting that the central Congress had decided to “wait and watch’’ before making its stand clear on a UCC, and that its leaders were speaking in different voices. Congress leaders said the party wanted the government to first come up with a draft Bill on the same, and accordingly react.

Calling UCC part of the Sangh Parivar agenda “to convert the country into a Hindutva nation”, Govindan said Sunday: “The Congress does not have a stand on the issue. It has adopted a different approach in different states. We cannot fight against a UCC with such an approach.”

The Congress hit back by drawing attention to the CPI(M) stand in favour of a UCC in the wake of the 1985 Supreme Court’s verdict in the Shah Bano case, which overrode Muslim personal law to award her maintenance from her husband who had deserted her.

The CPI(M) had held massive rallies in Kerala at the time, centred around campaigns for the rights of women.

Party legend and former chief minister E M S Namboodiripad was also in favour of a UCC, and directed CPI(M)-feeder outfit AIDWA to intensify the agitation for such a code.

Senior Congress legislator V D Satheesan said rather than the Congress, it was the CPI(M) that was in two minds. “It has double standards on a UCC. In the 1987 Assembly elections, to promote Hindutva agenda, the CPI(M) had demanded implementation of a UCC. Is the CPI(M) ready to declare that EMS was wrong in his approach?’’ he said.