Kerala elections heat up after Grand Mufti’s remarks on Muslim safety
The declaration by Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar, the Grand Mufti of Indian Muslims, the other day that Muslims are safe in India has ruffled and shocked the Congress and the Left in the country.
Musliyar, while speaking to Anand Narasimhan of NEWS 18, after his 30-minute-long meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that Muslims were safe in India. He also disclosed that he had wide ranging discussion with Prime Minister Modi during the meeting held at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi, early this week.
The disclosure by the 94-year-old Grand Mufti of India literally shocked the Congress leaders. “It is the personal opinion of Kanthapuram Musliyar. But the Muslims are not safe in India,” said V D Satheesan, Leader of Opposition in Kerala, who is also a senior Congress leader. Satheesan is the frontrunner for the post of Chief Minister in the eventuality of the Congress-led UDF winning the Assembly polls to be held in two months.
Many Muslim leaders, who were hitherto known as the acolytes of Kanthapuram, too came out in the open, challenging the propriety of the latter making a statement like this. “Who is Kanthapuram Musliyaar? We do not recognize him as the Grand Mufti of Indian Muslims. How can he make a statement like that? He is afraid of the Enforcement Directorate officials raiding his residence and offices,” alleged I P Abdul Salam, leader of a Muslim sect in Kerala.
Interestingly, the new opponents of Kanthapuram are the same ones who were respecting and eulogizing him as the spiritual leader of Muslims in the state. Leaders of the CPI(M), CPI, and Congress made it a point to call on the Grand Mufti seeking his blessings in the run-up to the elections. The secularists ensured that pictures featuring them with Kanthapuram got a prominent display in all newspapers and news channels. These secular leaders will never call on Hindu monks whom they shun as regressive and communalists.
Leaders of the CPI(M) and Congress went berserk and launched a broadside against Kanthapuram. K C Venugopal, the political guru of Rahul Gandhi, lambasted the statement and said that Muslims were not at all safe under the Narendra Modi government. Many Marxist leaders went overboard over the statement made by Kanthapuram and said that Muslims have been marginalized in India since 2014!
Satheesan, Kerala’s own Rahul Gandhi, said there was nothing wrong with religious conversion. “Nothing will happen if members of the Hindu religion get converted to en masse to Islam,” said Satheesan. What provoked the CPI-M and Congress leaders to shout from rooftops that Muslims were not safe in the country is the findings of a survey held by the Special Branch of Kerala Police about the mood of the people in the state in the run-up to the Legislative Assembly election. The survey forecasts that the BJP-led NDA is likely to win 20 seats in the upcoming election.
Both the CPI(M) and the Congress were taken aback by the report, and this is being seen as the reason for their outburst against the BJP. Whether the NDA bags 20 seats or not, the 2026 Assembly election is likely to see a tectonic shift in Kerala politics. The Muslim League has expressed its displeasure over the failure of the UDF to win the polls. “ We are without resources and financial strength to function as a political entity since 2016. The Muslim community is not getting its due as the Muslim League is out of the corridors of power. It is time we thought about alternate plans,” said K M Shaji, senior leader of the Muslim League. What is interesting is that the Muslim League leader would not have made the statement without the blessings of the Thangal family, which owns the party.
What shocked the electorate in Kerala was the announcement made by Satheesan that the Congress-led UDF has forged an alliance with Jamaat-E-Islami, an organization aiming to set up an Islamic nation in India. Satheesan said that there was nothing wrong in forming an alliance with Jamaat-E-Islami as the latter had declared that the organization does not believe in setting up a theocratic state. But the leaders of the Jamaat-E-Islami have not made any announcement either prior to or after the declaration by Satheesan. Other Islamic outfits in Kerala, too, have not stated that an Islamic theocratic nation was not their agenda. A K Balan, former minister and member of the CPI(M) central committee, sprang a surprise by declaring that in the event of Congress-led UDF winning the Assembly election, the Home Department (Police) would be controlled and administered by the Jamaat-E-Islami. Other CPI-M leaders followed suit and termed the Jamaat-E- Islami a terrorist organization. The latter owns a satellite news channel and hosts publications in the state.
Balan also declared that once Jamaat-E-Islami starts calling shots in the corridors of power, there would be many more madrasas in the state. He was referring to the 2003 slaughter of eight Hindu fishermen in Maradu, a fishing hamlet in Kozhikode district, by Islamic terrorists. The murderers could escape to safety because of the intervention of a Muslim leader who prevented the police from entering the mosque where they were hiding.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gave full support to Balan and other colleagues by substantiating the charges[1]. This created a furor across Kerala, and the UDF cried foul. Satheesan, the chief minister-in-waiting, went one step further and asked what was wrong with Kerala or India becoming an Islamic nation.
This war of words and the alleged attack on health minister Veena George by Congress activists at Kannur helped the CPI(M)-led LDF to draw parity with the UDF, which was surging ahead in the run-up to the election. The attack on Veena was nothing other than a non-event, as there is no evidence of any physical assault on the Dream Girl of Kerala politics.
There was a discernible anti-incumbency wave against Pinarayi Vijayan and the LDF that has been in office for the last ten years. The Sabarimala gold scam, the charges of corruption against Vijayan’s family, and the embezzlement of money belonging to the cooperative banks in the state have put the LDF fight with its back to the defensive. But the goof-up committed by the Congress with regard to Jamaat-E-Islami, an organization hated and feared by the Hindus and Muslims alike have turned the course of the 2026 election campaign.
This, along with the strengthening of the National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP have made the battle an open game. Though the NDA may not win and form a government, it has gained the “critical mass” required to cause a fission or fusion reaction in Kerala politics.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] CPI(M) leader says UDF with Jamaat-e-Islami support could ‘destroy Kerala’ – Jan 10 2026, Business Standard
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