P K Firos, State general secretary of the Muslim Youth League (MYL), a native of Kunnamangalam, Kozhikode, has reportedly said that he is proud of being a descendant of Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji
alias Variyamkunnan. Variyamkunnan was a notorious Jihadi who led and committed atrocities against Hindus during the infamous Malabar Moplah riots, commonly known as the Khilafat riots, in 1921. MYL is the youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League, a constituent of Kerala’s Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and obviously a partner of the anti-BJP I.N.D.I.Alliance.
P K Firos was speaking at the ‘Day-Night March’, organised by the Muslim Youth League, recently. During the speech, he justified encroaching on the temples and constructing mosques there. He was referring to the mosques in Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. He said mosques were constructed there for the prayers of Muslims. Firos challenged that the mosques are built to worship Allah and will not be ‘given’ to Hindus.
He challenged the Hindus: “UP (Uttar Pradesh) Chief Minister said they are for Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. But what the youth league has to say to Yogi Adityanath, what the Malayali side has to say, and what Kerala has to say is that our forefathers built these mosques in India. We are the descendants of Variyamkunnan”.
Firos is known for his communal comments and remarks. And, recently, he was in the midst of allegations in connection with the donations he had organised to pay to young women who were victims of gang rape in Kathua-Unnaolv and diverted those funds. Later on, he got a clean chit from the police. The case stemmed from the allegations that MYL national general secretary C K Subair and State general secretary Firos had swindled those funds. It was alleged that Firoz utilised the money to settle his debts, and Subair spent it for his travels to Northern Bharat. The complaint was reportedly lodged by the Muslim Youth League’s then-national committee member, Yusuf Padanilam.
Apart from the aforementioned allegations, his eulogising comments about Variyamkunnan expose his real sinister motives. He was praising that Jihadi to the most shameful heights. He was uttering those remarks with absolute knowledge of his (Variyamkunnan’s) worst anti-Hindu Jihadi acts during the Malabar Khilafat movement, Malabar riots. The entire world is fully aware of the shameful and sanguinary atrocities it caused. No account of how many thousands of Hindus were killed, how many Hindu women were raped, how many tender Hindu children were massacred, how many temples were desecrated and demolished, how many Hindus were converted to Islam by force and threat and how many Hindus fled to various faraway places during those dark days of bloodbath. Even veteran CPM ideologue EMS Nambootirippad had mentioned in his biography how his mother fled with her children, including him, to save his life. And, Variyamkunnan was the leader of these non-senses. His very name is an insult to the entire Keralites.
Still, there were orchestrated efforts in 2021 to picture Variyamkunnan as a freedom fighter. IUML started it, but LDF and UDF competed with each other to support it. It was part of the Malabar Riots Centenary programmes. Sangh-inspired nationalist movements organised strong agitation against it. And a supporter of the Jihadi Variyamkunnan declared the production of a Malayalam film on Variyamkunnan. But for the bold and stiff Opposition from the nationalist forces inspired by Sangh ideology, that film would have been materialised. At the same time. The famous filmmaker and BJP leader Ali Akbar alias Ramasimhan declared his movie on the Mopla riot of 1921. Pro-Jihadi films did not materialise. But, Ramasimhan’s movie “Puzha muthal puzha vare” (meaning river to river) very much materialised. These incidents prove that the people of Kerala do not accept Variyamkunnan, thanks to the awareness campaign the Sangh-inspired movement unleashed.
Still, Firos daydreams about Variamkunnan’s legacy. And fought against the screening of the Malayalam movie “The Kerala Story”, which portrayed non-Muslim women falling into Love Jihad, the manner in which they are misused to boost Jihad. Both the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposed the screening. Constituents of both Fronts are partners of I.N.D.I.Alliance.
But Firos forgets a recent statement of the president of IUML and also the spiritual leader of the Kerala Muslim community. Panakkad Sayid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, the supremo of IUML, said a few days before that the Ram Mandir, which is “worshipped and revered by the majority of the people in the country, is a reality”. He said, “we cannot go back from it. There is no need to protest against it. The Mandir is constructed on the basis of a court order. The court order said Babri Masjid is about to be constructed. These two are the part of India. Ram Mandir and the proposed Babri Masjid will strengthen the secularism of our country”. This journal had reported the speech hardly 15 days before.
It appears, Firos makes a desperate attempt to stop the Kerala Muslims from deserting IUML. Or is he trying to enter the good books of Muslim extremist groups?
Whatever the reason may be, Firos appears to be inflaming an obsolete and unnecessary communal fire for the sake of cheap vote bank politics.
