In the final leg of the campaign for local bodies in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has attempted to position the LDF in a light that would make it seem the last word in secularism. As usual, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) is the sacrificial lamb Vijayan slits the neck of in search of political fulfilment.

However, Pinarayi's attack on JIH has never been as aggressive as on Friday. To begin with, he equated what he called JIH's "political Islam" with the Sangh Parivar's Hindutva. This is standard Pinarayi messaging. The Chief Minister had carefully employed this balance ever since he aspired to become the national leader of the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) agitation in 2019.

Lest this be seen as Muslim appeasement, and risk unsettling traditionally secular and Left-leaning Hindu voters who are now fence-sitters ready to be tempted by the BJP's chest-thumping anti-Muslim rhetoric, Pinarayi began to attack JIH, a fringe entity, like it was as big a political scourge for his party as the RSS-BJP combine.

At that stage, the JIH had sprung a surprise on the CPM. The organisation that had mostly supported the Left till the BJP came to power in 2014 offered open support to the Indian National Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. After the BJP acquired supremacy, the JIH had pledged support to political formations that were best placed to unseat the BJP from power; and such a formation in most cases, including Kerala, was led by the Congress.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the CPM did try to woo the Muslim community in a big way, particularly by amplifying its pivotal role in the anti-CAA agitation, but failed. Now, for the local body and Assembly elections, the CPM hopes to make up with Hindu and Christian votes.

Therefore, the CM accused JIH of far worse than sharing the dream of theocracy with the BJP. Pinarayi said the group indulged in genocide, it was anti-India and anti-secular, called it primitive, and also accused it of having a sub-surface understanding with the BJP.

"Maududi (the founder of JIH) has said that those Muslims who had accepted the Indian Constitution and secularism should be excommunicated from Islam. He even exhorted adherents, through his book 'Khutabat', to consider democracy and modern civil rights as un-Islamic and reject them," the Chief Minister said.

Extermination was the worst charge Pinarayi pinned on the group. "Maududi incited hatred against Ahmadiya Muslims. In 1953, Ahmadiya Muslims were hunted down under the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami. Ahmadiya Muslims were also declared un-Islamic and were sought to be exterminated through a genocide. Maududi was even sentenced to death for his crimes against Ahmadiya Muslims," Pinarayi said. 

It is true that Maududi wanted Ahmadiyas excommunicated from Pakistan. Fact is, not just Jamaat-e-Islami, Sunni Muslims in general were against Ahmadiya Muslims. Ahmadiyas believe that their leader Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is the 'Last Prophet', the messiah that Mohammad had prophesied. For Sunnis this is sacrilege. For them, Mohammad is the 'messiah' and the 'Last Prophet'.

It is also true that, like Pinarayi Vijayan said, Jamaat-e-Islami had vehemently opposed the liberation of Bangladesh as it meant secession from Pakistan, and had collaborated with the Pakistan army to quell the uprising of the Bangladeshi Muslims.

The problem with Pinarayi's argument is not what he said Maududi and Jamaat-e-Islami did but his generalisation. He used the offensive deeds of Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan and Bangladesh to disparage Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.

Pinarayi himself said that Maududi migrated to Pakistan after the 1947 partition. Jamaat-e-Islami then split into four: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir.

JIH, though it had initially translated and distributed Maududi's teachings, gradually disengaged itself from Maududi and began to participate in the elections. It swears by the Indian Constitution and secularism, and has even formed a political party: Welfare Party of India.

This is also why Pinarayi's charge that the JIH joined hands with the BJP to sabotage CPM's Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami's chances in the Jammu and Kashmir elections is off the mark. "Jamaat-e-Islami had aligned with the BJP to defeat Tarigami but their candidate lost," Pinarayi said, suggesting a heroic CPM resistance against the combined might of the BJP and Jamaat-e-Islami.

What he conveniently ignored was that the Jamaat-e-Islami that opposed Tarigami in Kulgam Assembly constituency in J&K has no links to Jamaat-e-Islami Hind; both are as connected as Indian Union Muslim League and Pakistan Muslim League.

Nonetheless, establishing an Islamic way of life is the JIH's stated objective.

"'Iqaamat-e-Deen' is our objective," says the JIH website. "The term literally means establishing and upholding the Islamic way of life, which is the duty of every Muslim. We convey the message of God (Deen) to all human beings and urge them to make it the guiding principle in all the arenas of their lives including individual and collective ones," says the website.

Here is how the JIH hopes to accomplish its dream. "For the achievement of its objective the JIH shall adopt constructive and peaceful methods; that is, it shall reform the mental outlook, character and conduct through propagation (of Islam), instruction and dissemination of Islamic ideas, and thus shall train public opinion in order to bring about the desired righteous revolution in the social life of the country."

It is an officially admitted fact that no cases of violence have been charged against JIH members in Kerala. It is also true that JIH has not officially distanced itself from Maududi.