75 Years Of Secular Politics: Indian Union Muslim League Shows The Path For Contemporary Muslim Politics In India

By Grace Mubashir, New Age Islam

2 September 2023

Rahul Gandhi, in his visit to US in June, was dragged into controversy when he commented on Indian Union Muslim League. To a question whether Muslim League is communal party he negated the claim and countered by saying Muslim League is perfectly secular party. Rahul Gandhi represents Wayanad constituency with huge vote banking of Muslim League. “Muslim League is a completely secular party, there is nothing non-secular about them,” Gandhi said. “I think the person [reporter] hasn’t studied the Muslim League.”  

It has been 75 years since the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) was formed. Although the Muslim League party, capable of exerting decisive influence in Kerala and Tamil Nadu politics, has not been able to take root at the national level. The party's stand on many issues, like Islam and secular politics and plural politics, is gaining attention across the country. The League has a huge task politically as it celebrates the platinum jubilee of formation. As a minority party in independent India, the Muslim League has more responsibility to strongly resist the plummeting of the nation when the country's political atmosphere is burning the door of India’s secularism. Maintaining secularism is not something that a small political party can do alone.

 The seven-and-a-half-decade-old party is changing its clothes and political approaches as per the new era when those who propagate intolerance went to court saying that even the name of the Muslim League is illegal. All the words like secularism and secular society have started to become obsolete. Any party with secular political vision including the Muslim League should adopt the strength to resist the fragmentation of constitutional values.

This year party is celebrating 75 years of honourable existence. Currently, the party has members of the parliament from Kerala and Tamil Nadu and a permanent presence in the Congress-led United Democratic Alliance in Kerala. The party is a practical example of secular politics in a democratic nation while upholding religious and community identities. When Muslim politics in North India is looking for reorientation, the cosmopolitan, inclusive politics of the Muslim League can guide the way.

Birth of Indian Union Muslim League

The All India Muslim League was dissolved on December 15, 1947, in Karachi under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Muhammad Ismail Sahib was responsible for forming a new party for the Muslims of India. On March 10, 1948, Mohammad Ismail Sahib convened a meeting at Rajaji Hall in Chennai. This is where the Indian Union Muslim League was born. Muhammad Ismail was the first president. Mehboob Ali Baig became General Secretary.

The tears and bloodstains of the partition of India were still not dry. At the time of its formation, the Indian Union Muslim League was seen by the then-national leadership as the successor of the All India Muslim League, which was responsible for the partition of India. It is said that Rajaji Hall was allowed by the then Congress leadership thinking that it was a meeting to dissolve the remnant League in independent India.

the main demand of the All India Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah was for a new nation with Muslim majority areas. In the Lahore Resolution of the Muslim League of 1940, Jinnah declared that the first and ultimate goal of the All India Muslim League was to realize Pakistan. Gandhiji and the Congress strongly opposed this. But the British government had to give in before the strong Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was called by his followers as Quaide Azam or Great Leader. Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted Pakistan to become a reality in his lifetime. And he achieved it.

After becoming Pakistan's first president after partition, Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted to dissolve the All India Muslim League. Jinnah also put forward this demand in the last meeting held in Karachi. Along with this, one convener was appointed in India and Pakistan to maintain the party if needed. Muhammad Ismail Sahib, a native of Tirunelveli, was appointed as the convener in India. It was under his leadership that the legendary meeting was held at Rajaji Hall on March 10, 1948, and the Muslim League was born there. Later he was the All India President of the League till his death in 1973.

The Muslim League has had parliament representation since the first Parliament in 1952. The first member was B. Poker who was elected from Malappuram constituency. In the second general election, B. Poker won from Mancheri. In the third election, the Muslim League got two members. CH Muhammad Koya from Kozhikode and Muhammad Ismail from Mancheri. The first representative from outside Kerala was SM Muhammad Shareeth from Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu. This was in the 4th Lok Sabha.

In the fifth election, along with Mancheri and Calicut, the Muslim League also won Periyakulam in Tamil Nadu and Murshidabad in West Bengal. The Muslim League is represented by three members in the current Lok Sabha. In addition to two seats in Kerala, the League also won the Ramanathapuram constituency in Tamil Nadu. Muslim League has been in Rajya Sabha since 1952.

India's first Prime Minister, Nehru, in a major political speech at Kozhikode, criticized the Muslim League as a dead horse. In 1955 CH Mohammad Koya, who was emerging as a prominent leader of the League, confronted Jawaharlal Nehru with a reply. "The Muslim League is a sleeping lion. Its roar is about to be heard in this subcontinent".

Called a dead horse by Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Union Muslim League is today the second-largest party in the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala. A political party working with various democratic and secular parties in Kerala. A party that promotes a democratic and secular character even as it stands for the minority Muslim community and marginalized Dalit/Adivasi empowerment.

On March 10, 1948, the Muslim League Council met at Rajaji Hall in Chennai to discuss what the Muslim League should be in independent India. Even though India was partitioned and Pakistan was formed for Muslims, there were many Muslims in India.

The meeting held 75 years ago decided to mobilize the Muslims of India and create a new organizational form for the Muslim League. That decision was to maintain the unity and cohesion of the country India with other communities in India. To live in India with secular principles.

The truth is that after 75 years, the Indian Union Muslim League has been reduced to a party confined to Kerala. The League is a constituent party along with the Congress in the DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu. The Muslim community is a dominant minority community in various states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. But today the Muslim League is not even present anywhere.

In Kerala, the UDF, which includes the Muslim League, is in the opposition for the second time. The Muslim League always likes to be in the shadow of power. The leaders know very well that without power, the league will be crippled for ten consecutive years. However, the League cannot think differently from standing with Congress. UDF has always been the firm platform of the league.

The Muslim League also took shape and started its organizational activities during the formation of Aikya Kerala in the 1950s. The Kerala State Muslim League Committee came into being in a grand conference held at Ernakulam on 18 November 1956. Bafaki Thangal was elected as President and Siti Sahib as Secretary. The meeting called upon the people to work not only for the sake of all the people of Kerala but also for the entire prosperity of the country itself.

However, the then Congress leadership did not have this broad vision of the League leadership. The Muslim League tried to form an alliance with the Congress when the first assembly elections of united Kerala were held in 1956.

The Congress leadership rejected the League's proposal to lead a united front against the Communist party. The Communist Party came to power after defeating the Congress in the 1957 elections and EMS Namboothiripad became the Chief Minister.

The Muslim League also participated in the liberation struggle of 1959. When the elections came in 1960, it was wise for the Congress to combine the League and the PSP to form a front. The front won. PSP leader Pattam Thanupilla became the chief minister. But the Congress was not ready to give a ministerial post to the League.

Finally, It was decided to give the post of Speaker to Siti Sahib. That too with the condition that Siti Sahib should resign from the League. The League leadership agreed to this by making major compromises. History shows how Leage graduated from the popular communal paranoia to the stewardship of secular politics.

After the Siti Sahib's death, CH Muhammad Koya became the Assembly Speaker but the anger against the Congress was growing under the League leadership.

The Muslim League also joined in the high public sentiment against the Congress all over India. On 30 May 1966, the Working Committee meeting held at the League Mansion, Maraikkar Labba Street, Chennai, called upon the people to work for a non-Congress alternative government in India. The meeting also decided to work to form a non-Congress government in the next assembly elections in Kerala as well.

It is in the context of this decision that the CPM leadership group including EMS Namboothiripad and Azhikotan Raghavan came to Kozhikode League leader BV Abdullahkoya Sahib's residence for discussion. This crucial meeting took place one evening in the month of August 1966. That night, both parties agreed on many things over a large fish biryani serving.

EMS's plan to join the League and form a seven-party front blossomed that day. In the 1967 elections, the front led by the CPM came to power. EMS became the CM again. CH Muhammad Koya and MPM Ahmed Kurikkal became ministers. Thus, the League's first participation in power.

In 1969, history turned again. In 1967, the leader of the Congress Legislative Party, which was reduced to just nine members, K. Karunakaran worked hard to build a new front. Karunakaran brought CPI and Muslim League with him from the ruling party. It was the arrival of a leader named CH Muhammad Koya and the Muslim League. Except for a brief hiatus, the League has remained firmly on the united democratic front to this day.

The Muslim League teaches us that the best alliance for minority community parties is with democratic-secular parties.

Socio-Political Relevance of the Muslim League

What is the historical significance of the party Indian Union Muslim League? A party called the Indian Union Muslim League has been able to appreciate major changes in the political and social history of Kerala. With Malabar becoming a part of Kerala, Muslim League in Kerala became a force that no one could ignore.

In 1967, the Muslim League became an undeniable presence in Kerala politics when it became a member of the seven-party front of the EMS. Thus, for the first time, the League got two ministers in Kerala. CH Mohammad Koya and APM Ahmed Kurikkal.

The formation of Malappuram district was the main instrument put forward by the League in supporting the EMS to form the government. EMS agreed. In fact, it was the formation of Malappuram district that made the Indian Union Muslim League a major force in the socio-political landscape of Kerala. It was the formation of Malappuram district that enabled the League to win nearly ten assembly seats on its own without the support of any political party. In 1979, India got a cabinet led by the Muslim League in Kerala.

After the CPM, the Muslim League has the strongest, cadre-like ranks in Kerala. The Muslim League is literally controlling UDF politics in Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts. That party was able to give Kerala the best leaders as ministers and legislative members.

During the 1967 cabinet, the formation of Calicut University was also taking place through the strong intervention of the League. This brought great changes in the field of education in the Malabar region.

The reality is that the Muslim League's political interventions have given a lot of confidence to the Muslim community in Kerala. Muslims in Kerala today are the most enlightened community not only in India but in the world. The role of the Muslim League in shaping them like that is not small. There is no doubt that the League's socio-political interventions have made the Kerala Muslims the most self-respecting human community in the world, despite the economic security that followed the Gulf boom.

Today Malappuram district and Malabar are the most developing regions of India. Behind the great achievements of the Muslim girls in Kerala in the academic field is the involvement of the Muslim League in various ministries.

The League's influence over the Muslim community in Kerala is also a major reason why terrorist organizations have not taken root among the Muslim population in Kerala. It is also worth noting that till date there has been no movement from the side of the League to cause dissatisfaction, mistrust and concern among the various religious communities in Kerala. It is because of that that even the CPM is in a position to say that the Muslim League is not a communal party. Even while sharing power from various fronts, the leaders of the League tried to contribute their best to the all-round development of Kerala. The administrative essence of the Muslim League was behind the establishment of the Kochi Science and Technology University in 1972, followed by the Sanskrit College and Kannur University in 1994 and 1995.

The party is a practical model of accommodating minority interests while safeguarding the ideals of secularism and democracy. Muslims are an integral part of political society in Kerala by the dint of this secular politics. The communalisation of politics in Kerala was diffused through the secular, plural politics of the Muslim League. This model of Muslim League politics is a practical torchlight in contemporary India.

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A regular columnist for NewAgeIslam.com, Mubashir V.P is a PhD scholar in Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia and freelance journalist.

 

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