The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a long-time partner of the Congress in Kerala, has disagreed with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s comment on Tuesday that she hoped the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya would consolidate national unity.

After a two-hour meeting of the IUML’s leaders in Malappuram on Wednesday, the party passed a two-line resolution describing Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Priyanka’s statement as “out of place”.

“We express our disagreement on the statement issued by Priyanka Gandhiji on the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Her statement is very much out of place,” said the IUML, which had played a stellar role in maintaining peace in Kerala in 1992 when the Babri Masjid was demolished.

“We adopted this resolution only because we wanted to express our disagreement with this statement issued by Priyanka Gandhiji,” IUML national general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty told a media conference after the meeting.

Priyanka had said: “By the grace of Lord Ram, may this event broadcast his message of national unity, brotherhood and cultural syncretism.” She had added that Ram belonged to one and all. Without making an obvious attempt to draw a parallel between Ram’s values and the politics of domination and division that the RSS-BJP is accused of practising, the Congress leader had pointed out that Lord Ram’s philosophy is antithetical to hate and exclusion.

Asked why the party was not commenting on the pro-temple statements made by Congress leaders such as Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, IUML organising secretary E.T. Mohammed Basheer said: “It is implied.”

Kunhalikutty and Basheer insisted that the party was not ready to open old wounds and create another controversy. “It is not our intent to reopen the issue that would lead to communal polarisation. We have total clarity on that,” Kunhalikutty said.

He added: “To create such communal polarisation is perhaps the intent of those behind the temple construction. But it’s not our intention, and that’s why we have expressed our disagreement (with Priyanka’s statement) in limited words.”

Asked if the IUML would bring the matter to the attention of Sonia Gandhi, Kunhalikutty replied in the affirmative. Basheer weighed in: “Your media reports are going everywhere.”

Kunhalikutty alluded to the IUML’s traditional stand of remaining secular and not interfering in the affairs of other religions. “We continued to be a strong party even after 1992 (when the Babri Masjid was demolished) since we walked the path of secularism,” he said.

Both leaders said the party would keep discussing such matters internally and not trigger a public debate.

Basheer recounted that the IUML had decided to “respect” the Supreme Court judgment on the Ayodhya land dispute. “We had earlier taken a stand that we would respect the court order but not welcome it,” he added.

While there was no official reaction from the Congress in Kerala, party leader and former minister Pandalam Sudhakaran highlighted the secular credentials of the IUML and said his party would never do anything to break the trust.

“When the nation burned after the Babri Masjid demolition, it was then IUML leader Panakkad Mohammedali Shihab Thangal who had ensured not a stone was thrown in Kerala. We are forever grateful to him and the IUML and will never do anything to dilute our secular credentials,” Sudhakaran told The Telegraph.

The president of prominent Sunni group Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, Syed Mohammed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal, said he hoped the Congress would not retract from its secular values.

“We hope that secular parties including the Congress would not go back from their secular position,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.