Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party campaigned in the Wayanad constituency of Kerala on 15th April. While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reached the constituency and led a rally, the party had decided to use no flags during the campaign. “No party flags will be used for Rahul Gandhi’s election campaign in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency,” KPCC acting chief MM Hassan was quoted as saying on 13th April.
Hassan, who is also the chairperson of the United Democratic Front (UDF), stated that no flags of the Congress or its allies will be used during Gandhi’s poll campaign. However, he declined to justify the party’s decision not to use the flags but only the Congress party symbol.
#UPDATE– Congress leader #RahulGandhi leaves for Kerala.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) April 15, 2024
Congress leader will hold a roadshow in #Wayanad today.
The Congress has decided to not use any flags during the campaigning in Kerala: @JayalakshmiJN shares details with @swatij14 pic.twitter.com/SrjJIA0nZ0
Reportedly, the Congress Party’s choice not to use its or ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) flags during Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow in Wayanad earlier this month enabled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] to take political potshots at the party.
While the CPI(M) stated that the flags were not used because the Congress was afraid of the BJP, the BJP had said that Gandhi was ashamed of the IUML and asked him to withdraw his support. The Congress then responded by claiming that the CPI(M) and the BJP have become great friends and that it does not require any training on how to conduct an electoral campaign.
Congress ‘disrespected’ IUML flag at UDF program
The Indian National Congress party has been maintaining a ‘secular’ image when it comes to politics, especially in the state of Kerala. Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, it is refraining from showcasing its alliance or support to the minority community. The party has also been ‘disrespecting’ or disowning the Muslim League’s alliance in a bid to maintain its ‘secular’ image amid elections.
Earlier, last year also the Congress party had disrespected the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and its flag at a United Democratic Front (UDF) program in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The IUML flag was thrown by a Congress leader who asked the IUML workers to hoist it in Pakistan.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) is the Indian National Congress-led alliance of several political parties in the Indian state of Kerala.
On the other hand, the Muslim community people also seem to keep shut when it comes to openly supporting the Congress ahead of the elections, citing similar reasons. On 10th April, it was reported how the Muslim clerics chose strategic silence on suggesting voting preferences to the community to avoid the polarisation of Hindu votes.
Muslims refraining from ‘openly supporting’ Congress now
Muslims voting in large numbers for a particular political group, with clergy advising them to do so, has been a common occurrence in Indian elections prior to the independence. However, this time the Muslim clerics have restrained themselves from advising the community of bulk voting in favor of a particular party. No prominent Muslim organizations, such as the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband or the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, have issued directives to community members regarding which party or alliance to support in elections.
This strategic move stems from an inherent anticipation that if they appeal to Muslims to rally behind a particular party, it would ultimately polarise the votes of the majority Hindu community. In the year 2014, Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid extended support to the Congress party, however, this year no such appeal is being made.
This ‘strategic’ silence on political parties is regarded as ‘political maturity’ because Muslim clergy fear that if they openly back any non-BJP party or alliance, Hindu votes automatically shift to the BJP. Thus, Muslim clerics have chosen not to mention any political party, but they have delivered a clear message to the community about who pleases them.
Congress’ harmonious relations with the Muslim League
It is important to note that the Congress party has had very harmonious relations with the IUML. The duo had been openly supporting each other and standing by each other in several elections. The party has been pleasing the community to please the minority vote bank in Wayanad.
In June last year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called the IUML a ‘secular’ party on the global platform when in fact it is an Islamic extremist outfit. Gandhi was questioned at the National Press Club in Washington about his party’s coalition with the ‘Indian Union of Muslim League’ in Kerala. He responded to this by saying that the ‘Muslim League’ was a completely secular party and that there was nothing non-secular about them.
#WATCH | Washington, DC: …" Muslim League is a completely secular party, there is nothing non-secular about the Muslim League…": Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on being asked about Congress's alliance with Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Kerala pic.twitter.com/wXWa7t1bb0
— ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2023
IUML which is an off-shoot of Jinnah’s Muslim League’s ‘secular’ character was then massively questioned by the BJP. The BJP leaders slammed Gandhi for favoring the off-shoot of the party that was primarily responsible for the partition of the country. The BJP leaders then maintained that it was the Congress leader’s compulsion to remain acceptable in Wayanad which made him call the Muslim League a “secular party”.
Reportedly, in December 2023, the IUML and the Congress party had a verbal fight ahead of the Ram Mandir inauguration event that happened in January 2024. The IUML wanted the Congress party to take a ‘hard line’ approach favouring Muslims in exchange for their support in elections.
Muslim outfit Samastha, closely associated with IUML slammed the Congress party for its ‘non-commital’ stand on attending the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya. “The Congress stand that the party can attend the ceremony is only meant to prevent depletion of Hindu votes in North India. It is the soft Hindutva approach of the Congress that has taken the party,” the outfit said threatening Congress that if it remains non-committed, BJP would win Lok Sabha in 2024. The Muslim outfit also said that Congress failed to explicitly state that they will not attend the Pran Pratishtha like CPI(M) and because of this they would alienate their Muslim vote bank in Kerala.
It demanded the Congress to openly oppose the Ram Mandir event if it wanted the Muslim vote bank in Kerala stable. Later, close to the event, Congress openly stated that the party would not attend the Ram Mandir event as it was a ‘RSS-BJP’ event.
Give and take of political support
The Congress received “unconditional support” from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for the recently happened Telangana assembly elections. IUML national general secretary PK Kunhalikutty had written to the Wayanad MP and asserted that the party would work closely with Congress to build a new government against the governing “fascists.”
The Congress and the IUML also allied to contest in the Kerala general elections of 2019. There were thousands of Muslim League flags flying during Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow in Wayanad. Their inclusion in the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar roadshow took on additional significance because it was reported that the Congress party had strictly instructed its ally not to deploy the flags for fear that it would damage their chances of winning elections in North India. Rahul Gandhi was allegedly at Wayanad then with radical Muslims, per the CPI(M).
Indian Union Muslim League – The offshoot of Jinnah’s party
The All India Muslim League (AIML) founded by Pakistani ideologue and founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah is the parent organisation of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) which claimed to have emerged upon Indian independence in 1948. The Muslim League in Pakistan and the Indian Union Muslim League in India succeeded the All India Muslim League. IUML states that secularism and communal harmony are its two guiding principles on its website, yet it has frequently pursued goals that counter these statements.
Pakistan successfully prompted the British Empire to divide British India in 1947, despite the Muslim League’s vigorous advocacy for the creation of a distinct nation-state with a majority of Muslims. The goal to preserve the spirit of the All-India Muslim League led to the founding of IUML in December 1947.
M. Muhammad Ismail was a strong advocate for Pakistan’s creation and actively participated in the country’s partition process. He served as the founder and first President of the Indian Union Muslim League following the league’s separation from Jinnah’s Muslim League. Importantly, he contended that the IUML was a secular group, however, it had backed the Constituent Assembly’s decision to uphold Sharia law for Indian Muslims upon India’s independence.
He launched the first Muslim political party in the newly formed state of India and even negotiated with Congress to “recognize the League as the sole representative of Muslims.” This is comparable to the policies of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who had consistently maintained that he and his party, the AIML, were the only delegates of Muslims in undivided India.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru teamed up with the IUML in Kerala after independence. Jinnah had proposed a coalition government with the Muslim League in 1937, however, it was refused by the Congress. Political Islamists like the IUML were further pushed to turn to greater communal politics under the pretext of defending the rights of Muslims in the nation by the opportunistic policies of Congress.
UML was allegedly founded on his guidance immediately before Jinnah departed the nation after the split of the country. He had infamously declared, “There must be a Muslim league in Hindustan.” The AIML had also noted that Pakistan’s might affected India’s ability to defend its minorities and had pledged that it “would do all to protect them.”
