On Thursday (December 9), the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) dubbed the wedding of the Kerala Chief Minister’s daughter Veena with State Public Works Minister P A Mohammed Riyas as ‘adultery’. The remarks came at the backdrop of the government’s decision to appoint members of the Kerala Waqf Board through the government agency Public Service Commission (PSC).
While addressing a rally in Kozhikode, IUML State Secretary Abdurahiman Kallai said, “DYFI’s (Democratic Youth Federation of India) former all India president (Riyas) is a puthiyapla (bridegroom) from my region. Who is his wife? Was it a marriage? (It was) adultery. We should have the courage to say that. We should have courage like C H Muhammed Koya (ex Kerala CM).”It must be mentioned that IUML is an ally of the Congress party in Kerala.
As per a report in The News Minute (TNM), Abdurahiman Kallai had described the marriage between Veena Pinarayan and Riyas as ‘illegitimate’ and ‘prostitution.’ He urged the Indian Union Muslim League workers to show courage to protest against the marriage of the duo. During his address, Kallai also highlighted the importance of Islam in the lives of Muslims. The IUML workers also hurled casteist abuses at the incumbent CM Pinarayi Vijayan. Following the controversy, Kallai was forced to tender an apology.
He claimed that his contentious speech referred only to the Islamic way of life and was not meant to hurt the sentiments of anyone. Meanwhile, the Democratic Youth Federation of India hit back at IUML State Secretary and urged the Islamist party to examine Kallai’s mental state. In a Facebook post, DYFI State Secretary VK Sanoj termed the remarks against Riyas and Veena as ‘uncivilised.’ Meanwhile, the Kerala CM had assured the Sunni Muslim clerics that a decision regarding appointments to Waqf Board through PSC will only be taken after detailed discussions.
Marriage between Veena and Riyas
Amidst the pandemic, a total of 50 guests were reportedly allowed at the wedding that was held at Cliff House in Thiruvananthapuram in June last year. Mohammed Riyas, 2017 DYFI President and Communist leader, had earlier married Dr Sameeha Saithalavi. His marriage ended in divorce in 2015. Reportedly, his wife had accused him of domestic violence. Riyas had earlier led ‘beef cooking’ protests after the Centre sought to regulate the purchase and sale of cattle. He had also unsuccessfully contested for the Kozhikode Lok Sabha seat in 2019.
Similarly, Veena was earlier married to advocate Suneesh but their marriage too ended in 2015. She had worked in the IT sector for close to 10 years and had founded a mobility and cloud solutions company named Exalogic. Congress leader PT Thomas pointed out that the website of the company had disappeared and reportedly traced to another company named Sprinklr which is responsible for maintaining Coronavirus data in the State.
