Leaders of prominent Sunni organisations in Kerala have expressed their displeasure over the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) “tactical tie-up” with the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind-backed Welfare Party of India (WPI) in the upcoming local body elections.
Umar Faizy Mukkam, member of the mushawara (supreme body) of the Sunni scholars’ forum Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama, and Abdul Hameed Faizy Ambalakadavu, working secretary of the Sunni Yuvajana Sangham, one of its affiliates, had earlier criticised the move.
Opposing the strategy
In an article titled Jamaat-e-Islamiyude Dhritarashtralinganam (The Dhritarashtra-like embrace of the Jamaat-e-Islami) published in the Siraj, the mouthpiece of the Samastha faction led by Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar, on November 25, Rahmathullah Saqafi Elamaram, general secretary of the Sunni Yuvajana Sangham, Kerala, too has opposed the political strategy.
Mr. Rahmathulla claims in the article that a section of UDF leaders have justified the alliance saying they are not joining hands with the JeH, but with the WPI.
“It is like saying we have no connection with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, but we are in an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party,” he says.
Mr. Rahmathulla points out that the WPI was founded by JeH leaders. Though the party has members belonging to other communities as well, a large majority of its cadre are from the JeH.
Another argument for the tie-up is that the organisation has dropped its “mission” to set up a “theocratic state” in India. Mr. Rahmathulla says that though T.K. Arifali, Jamaat’s former Kerala chief, had earlier said that the Koran and ‘Sunnah’ (tradition of the Prophet) were more important for them than Syed Abul A’lah Maududi, the organisation’s founder, the JeH is found to have been following Maududi’s interpretations of the Koran alone.
According to Maududi, modern secular democracy is against the tenets and values of Islam. Shaikh Mohammed Karakkunnu, one of the senior leaders of the organisation, has also spoken against its members contesting in elections and holding posts in elected bodies.
“The country will face irreparable damage if political parties enter into unholy tie-ups for their temporary political benefits. Some political parties may become irrelevant as well. They may also lose their secular face… The impact may not be limited to the success or failure in one panchayat election alone…,” the article says.
The Kanthapuram faction is often politically aligned with the Left Democratic Front though it had criticised the government on issues such as the PM SHRI scheme recently.
Similar ideology
Earlier, Mr. Ambalakadavu, in a Facebook post, had reminded the UDF that the JeH and the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt were “two sides of the same coin.”
The Jamaat had earlier declared that those who participate in democracy or exercise their franchise in elections will automatically be out of Islam. Mr. Ambalakadavu recalled the pictures of Muslim Brotherhood leaders carried by the members of the Solidarity Youth Movement, a youth organisation backed by the JeH, during a protest earlier this year.
Without naming the Indian Union Muslim League, he said the recent internal frictions within the Samastha were the result of “one organisation’s” attempts to forge an alliance with the JeH. Mr. Mukkam had said during an event that the Samastha and Islam would be destroyed if JeH cadres were allowed to intrude into it.
Mr. Ambalakadavu and Mr. Mukkam are considered to be part of an anti-IUML group within the Samastha. Though the anti-IUML group had taken an open stand against the UDF candidate in the Ponnani Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 elections, it had not made much of an impact.
Tactical understanding
According to reports, though the UDF has not declared an alliance with the WPI, it has entered into a “tactical understanding” with the organisation in many local bodies, especially in North Kerala districts such as Kozhikode.
The UDF has not fielded candidates in some places where the WPI has put up its nominees. The “tie-up” is in vogue in the Kozhikode Corporation, Koduvally municipality, Vadakara municipality, and a number of grama panchayats in the district.
Similar strategy is reportedly being played out in select local bodies in some other districts as well. Replying to a query on the issue, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunny Joseph had recently said that the UDF would accept votes from any quarter.
Published – November 25, 2025 06:46 pm IST
