IUML should clarify stand on tie-up with JIH, says Govindan

CPI(M) leader Govindan urges IUML to clarify its partnership with JIH amid concerns over the group's theocratic ambitions.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan has demanded that the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) clarify if the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) is no longer pursuing the idea of a “theocratic state”.

He was addressing a public meeting at the Muthalakkulam ground on Sunday night (February 8) as part of the Left Democratic Front’s political rally for the northern region.

Quoting a senior JIH leader who reportedly claimed that the organisation was still pursuing the aim of a “theocratic state”, Mr. Govindan wanted to know why the IUML, as a major constituent of the United Democratic Front, had no qualms about joining hands with it for electoral gains. He also asked if the IUML believed that the JIH was not a communal organisation.

Meanwhile, Mr. Govindan came down on Opposition leader V.D. Satheesan, calling him a liar. “Mr. Satheesan’s main occupation these days is to lie all the time. He starts it in the morning itself. It has become some sort of a disease,” the CPI(M) leader claimed.

He also alleged that Mr. Satheesan was “the main coordinator” of the alliance between the Congress, IUML, BJP, and the JIH. “Mr. Satheesan keeps on saying that CPI(M) leaders, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and myself, were elected to the Assembly with the support of the JIH. I want to make it clear that the LDF has never had any political understanding with the JIH, it doesn’t have any alliance with it at present, and it will not have any tie-up in the future as well,” Mr. Govindan said. He also highlighted one of the resolutions passed during the centenary celebrations of the Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama, the Sunni scholars’ forum, against the JIH. The Sunni faction led by A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar had also opposed their ideals, he said.