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Muslim voters wisen up, then lose interest in Kerala

George Iype in Manjeri and Ponnani

Ever since Palathody Abdul Rasheed was ostracised for learning Kathakali and Tasni Banu was hunted by fundamentalists for her choice of a life partner, Muslim voters in Malappuram has wisened up.

Political parties and candidates have no fear of fundamentalists in the predominantly Muslim Lok Sabha constituencies of Manjeri and Ponnani disrupting the poll; if anything, it is the voter's apathy that worries them.

It was in Manjeri that Rasheed, 22, was shunned by fellow Muslims for learning Kathakali. It was in Manjeri that Banu, 20, a college student, was hounded for falling in love and marrying Abdul Nazar, a rationalist activist.

Rasheed and Banu are today symbols of a new generation of Muslims who defy the intolerance unleashed by fundamentalist organizations in Manjeri, Ponnani and other Muslim pockets in Kerala. As you travel across the Muslim boroughs you see that minority politics has not lured the voter.

Manjeri, with 56 per cent of the electorate of the Muslim community, and Ponnani, with 66 per cent from the community, are two Lok Sabha constituencies where for years the electorate have voted in the Indian Union Muslim League, a part of the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala.

But in this election, even during the third round of campaigning, the voters have been indifferent to electoral politics.

Thus, wherever IUML candidate E Ahmed campaigns in Manjeri, not more than 50 people turn up for the meetings. Ahmed, contesting from Manjeri for the fourth time, is surprised. "I'm confident of my victory but never before have voters shown this kind of disinterest," he complains as he sets out to tour his constituency.

Everyone knows Ahmed will win though Manjeri sports candidates from the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Bharatiya Janata Party and a handful of Muslim groups.

In Ponnani, IUML president Ghulam Mahmood Banatwala, a Muslim leader from Bombay, is seeking re-election for the seventh time. Banatwala has won from Ponnani since 1977 except in 1991 when the IUML's Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait contested. But this time, Banatwala is doing everything to ensure he is elected by a good margin.

"People have not been enthusiastic about elections this time. So we expect a low turnout and therefore, we don't want to take any chances," a local IUML leader said.

Locals say they are not afraid of peripheral Muslim fundamentalist organisations.

"We hate these organisations who try to be the moral police in our area. Most poor, illiterate Muslims in the area are convinced they have been taken for a ride by the extremist groups," says Muhammad Bashir, a lecturer at Manjeri's Unity College, where Banu fell in love with Nazar.

Some organisations that have been campaigning to infuse in people the spirit of communalism, and religious intolerance are the People's Democratic Party, the National Democratic Front and the Jamat-e-Islami.

But these outfits, especially the PDP and NDF, have fallen between two stools in their search for allies in the Lok Sabha elections since neither the UDF nor the LDF wants them. Thus, though the PDP and NDF have fielded candidates in Manjeri, Ponnani and a few other Lok Sabha constituencies across the state, not many Muslims openly back these candidates.

The PDP is not very active after its chairman, Abdul Nasser Madhani, was arrested and imprisoned in the Salem central jail in connection with the Coimbatore bomb blasts. Another setback was the links reported between the party and fundamentalists recently arrested in connection with a suspected plot to kill some political leaders, including Chief Minister E K Nayanar.

But the NDF, a Kozhikode-based organisation, has been in the forefront of militant Muslim outfits that set about victimising people like Rasheed and Banu. The police say the NDF, which has been campaigning against school uniforms, the singing of Vande Mataram in schools and the lighting of traditional lamps, is mainly responsible for Muslim radicalism in Malappuram.

But NDF council member K M Ashraf says the organisation does not unleash violence.

"Hindu forces and Congress leaders indulge in religious fundamentalism in disguise. We have been trying to awaken Muslims about the need for a progressive outlook in life," he said. "In the election, if people are showing a lukewarm attitude, especially in Manjeri and Ponnani, it is because they are fed up with leaders like E Ahmed and Banatwala," Ashraf said.

State PDP secretary Poonthura Siraj claims his party will teach the UDF and LDF a lesson in this election because both fronts have deserted Madhani. "Both the UDF and LDF sought our crucial support base in past elections. Now, because our leader is in jail, Congress and Communist leaders are pretending to drift away from us," he said.

However, the PDP's main agenda is not to fight against the UDF and LDF. "The BJP is our main enemy. Our effort is to defeat the Hindutva and fascist forces represented by the BJP," Siraj said. In the 1996 assembly and Lok Sabha elections, all the PDP candidates had lost their deposits.

But in Ponnani, the PDP put up a good performance by polling more than 23,000 and 35,000 votes in the 1996 and 1998 Lok Sabha elections. Siraj claims the PDP will improve its share of votes this time. But the local people say they will reject outfits like the PDP and NDF.

"We are all traditional Muslims. But we feel some of these organisations have not been preaching to save us. They have been practising the ideology of hatred," said Ahmed Koya, a general stores owner in Ponnai said.

Not many believe that either the NDF or PDP will have any impact this election. "Muslims in Manjeri and Ponnai may be poor. But slowly they are also awakening to the threats posed by minority communalism and its perpetrators like the NDF and PDP," says Ayed Mohammed Anakkayam, who heads the Yukthivada Sangham, a rationalist organisation to fight religious fundamentalists in Manjeri.

Syed Mohammad, who has written a couple of books on Muslim fundamentalism, says the fundamentalists raised their heads after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. "Now the Muslim community may not be in a position to prevent the trend of growing communalism. But at least not many in the community will support and vote for these organisations," he added.

"Our effort is to convince the Muslims that it is not the laws of the Quran that is leading some leaders in the community now. The community is being misled by external forces like the NDF. We are here to stop them," Syed Mohammad added.

These days the Yukthivada Sangham holds regular street corner meetings to educate the Muslims, telling them how young people like Rasheed and Banu are being made victims of minority communalism and religious fundamentalism.

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