Jamaat Leader On Kerala Minister's Staff, Protests Begin In Muslim League

The Indian Union Muslim League is facing discontent within its ranks after a former leader of Jamaat-e-Islami's student organisation was appointed to the personal staff of Kerala Education Minister PK Shamsudheen. The protesting leaders have questioned how a person associated with Jamaat-e-Islami could find a place in a minister's personal staff when names recommended by the League's own organisational units were left out.

The appointment of K Ashraf, a former district president of the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO), triggered protests from a section of the Muslim League, Youth League and the Muslim Students Federation (MSF).

Sources said the appointment was made overlooking a list of 18 names submitted by the Muslim League's Kondotty Mandalam Committee for appointments to the personal staff of the party's five ministers. Not a single person from the list has so far been accommodated.

The list included senior party functionaries such as Muslim League Malappuram District Secretary Abdulla Vavoor, who is also a former state president of the Kerala School Teachers Union (KSTU), and Kondotty Mandalam Secretary TP Ashraf.

Advocate Fahim, a former Kondotty Mandalam President of the MSF and now its Malappuram District Vice President, was also among those named. Youth League functionary Navas, who was seeking a deputation posting, was another name on the list.

The appointments have now led to an open protest from the Kondotty unit.

A delegation led by Kondotty Mandalam Muslim League President Nasim Pulikkal has now met the party's general secretary PMA Salam and demanded a review of KK Ashraf's appointment.

Election Support Behind Appointment?

As per sources within the party, the controversy has also opened a larger political question within the League.

A section of party leaders is questioning whether the appointment is linked to the outside support extended by Jamaat-e-Islami and the Welfare Party to the UDF during the elections.

The allegation within the party is that political representation is now being given to those who backed the UDF during the election.

The issue is particularly sensitive because the Muslim League had previously maintained political distance from Jamaat-e-Islami, despite instances of electoral cooperation involving the Welfare Party.

The party leadership, however, has pointed to restrictions on the number of people who can be appointed to ministers' personal staff.
PMA Salam is learnt to have told the protesting leaders that it was impossible to accommodate everyone whose names had been recommended because of the limited number of posts available. He also reiterated that the constraints were administrative and unavoidable, sources said.

But the explanation has not ended the discontent.

The Youth League and MSF are questioning why, when the number of posts is limited, a person associated with Jamaat-e-Islami was accommodated while senior League functionaries and nominees recommended by the party's own mandalam committee were left out.

As per sources within the League, the Kondotty leadership is now seeking a review of the appointment, turning what began as a dispute over a personal staff posting into a larger debate within the Muslim League over representation, electoral alliances and the growing political proximity between the UDF and the Welfare Party.

At a press meet in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan maintained that he is not aware of this development.