Ahead of Palakkad bypoll, UDF counters Kerala CM’s alleged attempt to question secular credentials of IUML leadership
The Hindu
Palakkad Assembly bypoll campaign intensifies as UDF counters Vijayan's accusations, sparking debate on secular credentials and political alliances.
As the public campaigning for the Palakkad Assembly bypoll draws to a close on Monday (November 18, 2024), the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala has sought to counter Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s purported attempt to question the secular credentials of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) State president Syed Sadikali Shihab Thangal.
A sharply critical editorial in Chandrika, the IUML’s official newspaper, has slammed Mr. Vijayan’s accusation that Mr. Thangal had forsaken the Panakkad’s secular legacy and gravitated towards the ideology of the allegedly radical Jamaat-e-Islami.
At a campaign speech in Palakkad on Sunday (November 17, 2024), Mr. Vijayan also seemed to rub salt into the wound by alleging that Mr. Thangal did not seem to sport the secular qualities of his late elder brother, Syed Mohammed Ali Shihab Thangal.
He also suggested that a section of the IUML rank and file appeared disenchanted with the party’s alleged drift from its “historically progressive, reformist and anti-imperialistic” moorings.
The editorial said Mr. Vijayan had “no political or moral grounds” to question the Panakkad family’s secular legacy.
It accused Mr. Vijayan of shielding a high-ranking officer suspected of stoking Hindu majoritarian resentment ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by “derailing” Thrissur Pooram to aid the BJP. The editorial said Mr. Vijayan sought no action against the official for “secretly liaisoning” with the top Sangh Parivar leadership.
The editorial accused Mr. Vijayan of seeking to create political space for the Sangh Parivar by allowing the communally delicate Munambam issue, precipitated by the Waqf Board’s litigated claim over 400 acres of densely populated land occupied predominantly by Christians in Ernakulam district, to fester.
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