Jamaat’s ideology is akin to Hindutva: KT Kunhikannan

KOZHIKODE: As part of the campaign against Jamaat-e-Islami, CPM leader KT Kunhikannan has come up with a book that critically analyses the ideology and politics of the controversial Islamic organization. CPM central committee member Elamaram Kareem will release the book ‘Islamic extremism: An introduction to the critique of Jamaat-e-Islami’ on February 21.
“The proponents of theocratic state and minority communalism are weakening the unity of people under the leadership of secularists, which is imperative in the current Indian context of Hindutva forces controlling power,” Kunhikannan said.
“Secularists should realize that Maududism, which is the ideology of the Jamaat, is the other side of Hindutva. Some Congress and IUML leaders and postmodernists are busy painting Jamaat as a secular organization. This is nothing but the lack of intellectual honesty,” he added.
Kunhikannan said that this is the context that prompted him to write a book that analyses the ideology of Jamaat-e-Islami with the help of books and articles written by Muslim scholars on the organization.
The CPM leader said political Islam is an imperialist ideology that has significantly deviated from the origin of Islam and the teachings of the Prophet.
“Jamaat is still following a destabilising ideology that is developed from the thoughts of Hasan Al-Banna and Abul Ala Maududi. The book raises the pertinent question as to why Jamaat is not ready to discard the ideology of Maududi that rejects modern nationalism and secularism as in the case of Savarkar and Golwalkar,” Kunhikannan said.
According to him, the book explains that Jamaat is attempting to spread anti-Left ideology in Kerala using the terminology of identity politics and postmodernism. Jamaat is cleverly concealing the fact that like RSS, it also aims to establish a theocratic state.
“The ideology of political Hindutva and political Islam is deeply rooted in the interests of imperialist and capitalists’ forces. The book has seven sections that analyses various aspects of the organization,” he said.
The campaign against Jamaat was the focal point of CPM in the recent elections to local bodies. Indications are that it will remain a major content in upcoming assembly elections too.