Israel-Hamas war | CPI(M) hails IUML ‘decision’ to participate in LDF’s pro-Palestine rally in Kozhikode

IUML appears to be aligning with CPI(M) on various issues, including UCC, Palestine cause. CPI(M) has held meetings to mobilise public opinion against Israel's attacks on Gaza, while IUML is reportedly disgruntled with Congress' lack of support. IUML's decision to join CPI(M) rally in Kozhikode to show solidarity with Palestine has far-reaching consequences for Kerala's coalition politics.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Central committee member A.K. Balan has signalled that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) appeared to be on the cusp of crossing a political Rubicon by “deciding” to participate in the upcoming Left Democratic Front (LDF) rally in Kozhikode on November 11 to voice solidarity with the Palestine people.

Speaking to journalists outside the CPI(M) Kerala headquarters at the AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram on November 3, 2023, Mr. Balan said the IUML’s “resolve to march in lockstep” with the CPI(M) on various national issues, including opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government’s move to draft a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) that “seeks to trample” on the personal laws of Muslims, will have “far-reaching consequences” in Kerala’s coalition politics.

Mr. Balan said the IUML displayed an “increasing affinity” to the CPI(M)‘s political positions. For one, Mr. Balan noted, IUML Kerala general secretary P.M.A. Salam had said there was no equivalency between Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s “incendiary comment” that cast a particular minority community under a cloud of suspicion in the aftermath of the Kalamassery blasts and CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan’s preliminary observation that the explosions at the evangelical meeting could be a nefarious attempt to divert public attention from Kerala’s solidarity with Palestinians.

(Mr. Govindan later clarified that he had sought a thorough investigation into the blasts that claimed three lives and injured scores last week. He said he had not jumped the gun to broadcast a schismatic message or divisive bias against any group.)

Mr. Balan said the IUML had “under duress from the Congress” rejected the CPI(M) invitation to participate in a seminar against UCC.

“The IUML’s decision to overtly align with the CPI(M) for the Palestine cause reflected a change of heart that has profound political implications for Kerala. The IUML’s U-turn is also a critique of the Congress’s ambivalent position on the Palestine cause. It also signals that the IUML has emerged out of the Congress’s penumbra”, Mr. Balan said.

(Earlier, the IUML and the CPI(M) had criticised Congress Working Committee member Shashi Tharoor’s purported reference to Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Both parties termed Palestine’s opposition to expansionist Israel as “legitimate” resistance.)