Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS, the youth wing of Samastha Kerala Jam’eyyat ul-Ulama, that is, All Kerala Ulama organisation, commonly known as Samastha) has demanded a separate ‘Malabar State’ in North Kerala. Its leader, Mustafa Mundupara, has diplomatically put forward such a demand. He has said that ‘if someone demands a separate Malabar state, he/she cannot be blamed’. It is to be noted that Samastha has been the largest conservative Muslim organisation in the state. They maintain warm relations with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Indian National Congress.
IUML is a constituent of the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). In February 2021, Samstha demanded a separate Malabar state. The Muslim Youth League, the youth wing of IUML, forwarded the same sort of demand in August 2013.
The proponents of the demand envisages a state starting from Thrissur district to Kasaragod district and also Mahe and Nilgiris. Mahe is a part of the Union Territory of Pondicherry; Nilgiris is a district in Tamil Nadu. When Samastha and Youth League talked about separate Malabar state, they had invited the wrath of the nationalist movements in the state. Now, they are much emboldened as Rahul Gandhi won the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, and now Priyanka is going to fight from there. Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency consists of three Assembly segments of Malappuram district, which are Muslim majority ones. But for this three-segment vote bank, Rahul Gandhi could not have won from there, and now Priyanka can never hope to win from there. So, if Samastha expects at least sympathy from IUML and Congress, none can blame them.
This latest demand must be viewed in the context of the “Cutting South” seminar held in Kochi last year. It was allegedly propaganda for a “Separate South India.”
K Surendran, state president of BJP, said that Samastha has now taken over the demand of the Popular Front of India (outlawed PFI). BJP will resist all sorts of efforts to divide Kerala. These sorts of demands are the results of the excess sort of Muslim appeasement by both ruling and opposition coalition Fronts. Now, the people of Kerala are waiting for the reaction from Congress and CPM and the Fronts they lead. When Malappuram district was launched in 1969, Bharatiya Jan Sangh had warned that the next demand would be for a separate state. Surendran said that IUML is playing the game behind the curtain. League still continues the legacy of the players who worked overtime for the partition of the country in 1947.
BJP president added that the latest move is to have a Muslim Chief Minister. Muslim League is responsible for the negligence Malabar has been suffering for the last several decades, irrespective of the colour of the flag of the ruling parties. Muslim League could not solve the shortage of Plus Two seats in the Malabar area even though the party has been handling the education departments most of the time under Congress-led United Democratic Front regimes. BJP would not allow anyone to drag religious issues into the agitation against the negligence towards Malabar. He called for consistent vigilance against the actions of the religious extremists. He said this, taking into consideration Mustafa’s statement, pointing out the issue of Plus 2 seats.
RSS, BJP and other Sangh-inspired organisations have been raising the issue of fissiparous tendencies in Kerala in the name of religions, communities, etc.
