Munambam Waqf land row snowballs into political issue amid by-elections in Kerala
Union Minister Suresh Gopi recently met the 610 families of Munambam village who are protesting against the Waqf board's claim over their land.
K Anil Kumar, the head of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said on Tuesday that the party has persuaded Muslim females in Kerala’s Malappuram district to stop donning the hijab.
The comment, which was made during a seminar hosted by an atheist organization, outraged a number of religious organizations and academics.
“Look at the education system in Malappuram. Was it created by some religious organisation? Malappuram district was formed by CPIM. As part of changes taking place in Malappuram, look at the new women of Malappuram. We believe that there are girls in Malappuram now who will say no to wearing ‘thattam’ (hijab) on their heads as part of the communist party existing in Kerala and as part of the education system,” the CPI(M) leader said.
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A group of Sunni intellectuals called Samastha accused the CPI(M) of using unfair criteria. Leaders of the IUML K M Shaji and KPA Majeed also criticized the CPI(M) over Kumar’s remarks.
They questioned the logic between associating free thought with the removal of the hijab and charged the CPI(M) with violating religious convictions.
In response to criticism, MV Govindan, the state secretary of the CPI(M), refuted Kumar’s assertions and made it clear that the statements were offensive and did not reflect the party’s position.
He asserted that the freedom to dress was a democratic one, and that no one should infringe on it.
Similar to this, MLA KT Jaleel, who is supported by the CPI(M), stated that the opinion is solely personal and does not reflect the position of the party, and that “attempting to present the individual’s fault as the party’s decision is ill-informed.”
Anil Kumar stated in a Facebook post that he will defend the CPI(M)’s position on the matter after the party disavowed his comments.
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