The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on Sunday turned down an invitation from the CPM to participate in an upcoming seminar against the uniform civil code, saying any initiative without participation from the Congress would portray a divided house and benefit the BJP.
The IUML’s decision ends days of speculation on whether the principal ally of the Congress in Kerala would share the stage with the ruling CPM against the contentious legislation that all three have opposed.
The CPM had not invited the Congress to the event. The CPM and the Congress are sworn enemies in Kerala although both are part of alliances and understandings in states like Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Bihar.
The IUML leadership that met on Sunday morning did not take too long to decide its course of action in view of the invitation from the CPM to attend the seminar on July 15 in Kozhikode in north Kerala.
Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, a member of the spiritual leadership of the IUML and the party’s state president, told a media conference in Malappuram that the party had decided not to take part in the CPM’s programme in which the Congress is not a part of.
“We cannot participate in a seminar without the Congress. The IUML is an ally of the Congress. Only the IUML has been invited to the seminar, leaving out the other members of the UDF (the Congress-led United Democratic Front),” Thangal said.
However, he added that “other Muslim organisations can take their own decisions if they want to participate in the seminar”. The clarification was issued apparently in view of the decision by the influential Sunni organisation, the Samastha Kerala Jam-Iyyathul Ulama, to accept the seminar invitation.
IUML national general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty told the media conference that the party would organise its own seminar by inviting representatives of all communities to discuss the UCC. “The Congress should be part of any seminar (against the UCC). Otherwise, a divided house would only help the BJP,” he cautioned.
CPM state secretary M.V. Govindan said that the IUML’s decision cannot be seen as a setback to the seminar. “No setback. What setback? How can it be a setback because one party has decided not to join a seminar we are organising?”
He said the CPM was only trying to bring all like-minded parties and groups on one platform to oppose the UCC. “The CPM only wanted to bring all parties together since the Congress is unable to make its position clear on this issue,” he told reporters, following the IUML’s rejection of its invitation.
He cautioned that the implementation of the UCC would be the third and final scheme before the RSS and the BJP converted India into a Hindu Rashtra.
State Congress president K. Sudhakaran said the party was very happy with the IUML decision. “We are organising a protest meeting and work is on to decide about the participants. We will announce the date tomorrow (Monday),” he said, alluding to a parallel anti-UCC event the party plans to organise.
Church on UCC
The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), while refraining from expressing its opinion on the proposed UCC because of the absence of a draft bill, has cautioned about trampling the constitutional rights of the minorities and tribal communities.”
“The law ministry has not yet prepared any draft of the UCC. Without circulating a draft of the proposed law, the nature of UCC is unknown…. We cannot say whether we are in favour or against it because we are unaware of the content and how it would affect the religious freedom granted to us by the Constitution of India,” the council said in a media release on Sunday.
“Any endeavour to make a UCC should consider particular religious and cultural sentiments, including those of the tribal people, who comprise about 8.9 per cent of the Indian population, including the Christian community. To be precise, a UCC shall not hinder or destroy the religious freedom given by the Indian Constitution and the diversity in cultures that is part of India’s rich patrimony,” it pointed out.
