INL’s long wait rewarded

Kozhikode: The ministerial berth for Indian National League (

INL

) comes as recognition for the party’s 27-year association with the LDF, including the near-quarter century ‘waiting period’ the breakaway faction of IUML had to face to get inducted into LDF.

INL’s lone first-time MLA Ahammad Devarkovil will become a minister in the second Pinarayi Vijayan ministry. It marks the second time in which a breakaway faction of IUML is being inducted to the ministry after All India Muslim League got representation in E K Nayanar’s ministry in 1980. The party remained loyal to LDF though many leaders like P M A Salam and N A Nellikunnu left it and returned to IUML. INL was formed in 1994 by former IUML national president Ibrahim Sulaiman Sait in protest against the party’s association with Congress after the Babri Masjid demolition.

The party is said to have dropped the idea of having the word Muslim in its name following the advice from CPM leaders and chose the name Indian National League. Its leaders had said that they used to discuss party formation matters with the then CPM general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet in New Delhi.

The party offered unconditional support to LDF in Guruvayur assembly byelection of 1994 (necessitated following the resignation of PM Aboobacker from IUML to be part of INL) in which LDF-backed independent P T Kunhu Muhammed won the seat. While sitting MLAs U A Beeran and P M Aboobacker resigned their posts to be with INL in 1994, the party had to

wait

for wait till 2006 to have an MLA with the election of P M A Salam from Kozhikode South.

The association with INL helped LDF to reach out to minorities and overcome the image that CPM, Left were untouchable for Muslims.

INL state general secretary Kasim Irikkur said that the decision to make INL part of LDF government was a milestone moment. “This is a gesture of recognition for the support LDF received in this election from minorities and other marginalized sections. It sends the signal that minorities can firmly align with LDF as a true secular platform and that it is ready to accommodate all their aspirations,” he said.

Kasim said the party had in its own way served as a link between LDF and minorities. “Till our formation, IUML and Congress were spreading anti-Communism especially among Muslim minorities and our association helped change that to a big extent,” he added.