Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is a political party in the southern State of Kerala. It has a pre-independence history, too. We will discuss the growing role of the IUML in the present scenario in Kerala and in other States. The Congress party and the IUML are partners in Kerala under the United Democratic Front (UDF) alliance. The UDF and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) were the two major political formations in Kerala before the BJP entered the political arena with full vigour.
The Congress party has a very strong stake in Kerala in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2019Lok Sabha poll, the Congress party won 15 seats from Kerala out of its tally of 52 seats. It’s important for the Congress party to maintain its current tally in Kerala to at least match that of 2019.
The fortunes of IUML escalated after Rahul Gandhi chose Wayanad as his Lok Sabha constituency besides Amethi in 2019. The IUML came to know that it’s now a compulsion for Rahul Gandhi to contest from Wayanad. The IUML has its own strong massbase on Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. Eranand is one of the seven Assembly segments in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. The IUML has represented this seat since its formation after the Delimitation in 2009. The seat falls in Malappuram district.
The IUML understood that Rahul Gandhi had no other option except to contest the Lok Sabha election from Wayanad, so the party decided to take advantage of Rahul Gandhi’s helplessness. The IUML came to the conclusion that from now onwards, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party will have no other option but to fulfil the demands of the IUML, whether the demands are fair or unfair. The party first took one seat, Ramanathapuram, for itself in the neighbouring State of Tamil Nadu, under the seat shared with the Congress party.
The IUML contested and won Ramanathpuram Lok Sabha seat in 2019. This time again in 2024 the IUML is contesting the seat as the Congress party ally. We also cannot deny the fact that the IUML may further pressurise the Congress party for more seats in other southern States like Telangana, where there is a considerable Muslim population.
It is believed that it was on the advice of the IUML that the Congress party boycotted the Ram Mandir consecration in Ayodhya. We cannot rule out the possibility that the IUML may have more dictates to the Congress party in the coming days.
In the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections, the Congress party contested 93 seats and won only 21 seats, while the IUML contested 25 seats and won 15 seats. Now, the IUML will pressurise the Congress party within the UDF alliance to share more seats in the 2026 Assembly elections in Kerala. Even the IUML may force the Congress party to give its Chief Ministerial position, too. Due to the Congress party’s poor performance in the 2021 Kerala Assembly election, the UDF did not retain power. Since 1982, there has been a tradition of change in governance after every assembly between the UDF and the LDF. This tradition was broken only in 2021 due to the Congress party’s poor performance.
