CPM leader and former MLA P. Nandakumar stated, on October 3, that Malappuram district is the land of religious fundamentalism. He was welcoming the gathering in Ponnani in connection with the extended district committee meeting of the Malappuram unit of the party. He said it is a known fact that there are peculiar circumstances in Malappuram district. It is a land of religious fundamentalists.
P. Nandakumar said the party conclave would explore the methodologies to defeat such religious fundamentalism through an expanded popular movement and coordination of secular forces. He said the party conclave would discuss how to discharge the duties of modern times and how to solve the organisational weaknesses. It will also examine how to discharge those political duties.
CPM supremo and former CM Pinarayi Vijayan, party central committee member K.K. Shailaja and veteran leader and former minister Paloli Mohammedkutty were on the dais during the startling speech of Nandakumar.
But CPM state secretary M.V. Govindan rejected Nandakumar’s comments. He stated that Nandakumar’s statement is not the party’s stand; the party’s policy is to keep the Muslim religious minority with it. Party policy is what the state secretary states.
Nandakumar’s speech has invited the wrath of the Indian Union Muslim League leaders. K.P. Noushadali MLA, the successor of P. Nandakumar in the Ponnani Assembly constituency, reacted that the former MLA has hurt the hearts of the people of Malappuram. He belongs to Congress. He called on the people of Malappuram to throw the CPM away absolutely.
CPM leader and former MLA K.T. Jaleel said that Malappuram district is the land of secularism.
Indian Union Muslim League has criticised Nandakumar in sharp terms. Muslim Youth League has reportedly filed a complaint before the police, alleging that Nandakumar was attempting to spread religious animosity.
But there were reports of CPM leader Saji Cheriyan’s speech in January 2026, immediately after the Local Self-Government Bodies election, that examining the names of the election winners in the Malappuram district panchayat and Kasaragod municipality showed evidence of communal polarisation. He also criticised the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). He said its political approach promoted sectarian divisions. He was a minister in the Pinarayi government at that time. When it stirred a hornets’ nest, Saji withdrew the statement and apologised.
One of those days, senior CPM leader and former minister A.K. Balan reportedly warned that if the UDF (Congress-led United Democratic Front) came to power, the Home Ministry would be run by Jamaat-e-Islami and it would lead to Marad-like riots. The Marad incident he referred to was the killing of eight Hindu fishermen by Muslim attackers at Marad beach, Kozhikode, on May 2, 2003.
Paloli Mohammedkutty rejected the versions of both.
Once, CPM Polit Bureau member A. Vijayaraghavan had reportedly criticised the League politics in Malappuram district and the Panakkad family, the first family of Muslim League politics. Later, CPM came out with a clarification that the party leader was criticising the Muslim League alone.
In May 2005, CPM veteran V.S. Achuthanandan blamed malpractice for the high SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) results in Malappuram district. When it invited criticism, he withdrew his statement. V.S. Achuthanandan became the Chief Minister of the state in 2006.
