Muslim League backed Satheesan in Keralam CM race, now gets payback from Congress faction

Kozhikode: For the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), being sidelined by its principal ally, the Indian National Congress (INC), at the national level is hardly a new experience. However, the party's perceived exclusion from key INDIA bloc engagements in Delhi — including the protest rally at Ramlila Maidan against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the opposition delegation's meeting with the President of India — has given a new dimension to its sense of marginalisation.

What makes these incidents particularly significant is the IUML's belief that the reasons for its alleged neglect may have changed. During Rahul Gandhi's first electoral outing in Wayanad in 2019, the controversy over allegations that the Congress had sought to keep the IUML's green flags out of campaign rallies, fearing political backlash in North India because of their perceived resemblance to the Pakistani flag, was seen as a reflection of the Congress's unease over being visibly associated with a Muslim political outfit on the national stage. The IUML now suspects, however, that the problem runs deeper into the Congress's own political and organisational equations.

The party increasingly suspects that internal factionalism within the Congress, particularly the resentment of a section of its Keralam leadership over the IUML's growing influence in the new Congress-led government and its support for V D Satheesan as Chief Minister, is behind its exclusion from national-level events.

Despite being a significant constituent of the opposition alliance, the IUML felt conspicuously pushed to the margins during the Ramlila Maidan rally and the symbolic public impeachment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Its senior leader was allegedly denied an opportunity to address the gathering. The party's sense of exclusion was further compounded when its representative was initially left out of the delegation that met the President of India, even as representatives of other INDIA bloc constituents participated. For the IUML, these were not merely protocol oversights or isolated organisational lapses, but signs of deliberate political distancing.

The party suspects that a section of the Congress with considerable influence in Keralam is actively working to limit its political visibility and influence within the INDIA bloc. The IUML had openly supported Satheesan for the Chief Minister's post during the tussle over the top position following the Keralam Assembly election, taking a clear stand to prevent political uncertainty in the state. The party now suspects that this position may have provoked resentment among a section of the Congress leadership.

The IUML leadership has decided to take up the issue with the Congress high command. Party leaders are planning to meet senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi, in the coming days. The party's state president, Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, who is currently abroad, is expected to return to Malappuram on Tuesday, after which further discussions will be held.

Muslim League MPs and party workers have been an active presence in the series of protests organised by the INDIA bloc in Delhi. It was Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge who invited IUML state president Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal to the mega rally at Ramlila Maidan. As Thangal was abroad, the IUML leadership deputed its national general secretary and Keralam Industries and IT Minister P K Kunhalikutty to represent the party in Delhi.

The IUML had expected Kunhalikutty to be invited to address the rally, but that did not happen. The party is particularly unhappy with the decision to give CPM general secretary M A Baby an opportunity to speak while denying the same to the League's representative.

Initially, the IUML was not included in the delegation scheduled to visit Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit a memorandum against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Following the omission, some IUML leaders conveyed their displeasure to the Congress leadership. Subsequently, the name of the party's senior leader E T Mohammed Basheer MP was included as the eleventh member of the delegation. Basheer also proceeded to Rashtrapati Bhavan to submit the memorandum. However, as the President's office was willing to admit only ten members of the delegation, Basheer was denied permission to join the group.

The IUML also alleges that its student wing, the Muslim Students Federation (MSF), was not invited to a meeting held to discuss plans for a public impeachment of Gyanesh Kumar, despite its active participation in rallies and protests over the preceding weeks. Five student organisations that had staged protests at Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia University were invited to the meeting. These included the Fraternity Movement, the student organisation affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami. IUML leaders suspect that the MSF was overlooked while the Fraternity Movement was accommodated.

Leaders and workers of the Muslim Youth League (MYL), the IUML's youth wing, had also actively participated in the protests, with several of them reportedly detained by Delhi Police. However, they too were allegedly left out of important meetings related to the protest programmes.

A senior IUML leader told Onmanorama that the party does not believe its marginalisation at national-level events is driven by religious sensitivities, but rather by differences and factional rivalries within the Congress leadership.

"For the past few years, the Congress has been taking up issues concerning the Muslim community more prominently than it did earlier. The party no longer appears apprehensive about the possible political backlash from associating with Muslim organisations. Therefore, religious sensitivities cannot explain the neglect we are facing at the national level," he said.

"The IUML had openly supported Satheesan for the Chief Minister's post. If that stand is now being held against us and is behind the deliberate attempts to sideline the party at national-level events, we will have to take up the matter with the Congress high command. The party is planning such an intervention," he said.

Having stood by the Congress at a politically sensitive moment in Keralam, the League now strongly suspects that its support for Satheesan may have come at a political cost. If its suspicions are correct, the alleged sidelining in Delhi could be less about religious optics and more about a factional battle within the Congress, with the IUML caught in the crossfire. The party's planned meeting with the Congress high command will indicate whether this growing mistrust can be resolved or whether it will deepen the fault lines within the alliance.