Thiruvananthapuram: The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has appointed two women, including a Hindu Dalit, to its national leadership for the first time in a bid to project a more progressive image amid criticism about the poor representation of women in Kerala politics.
Jayanthi Rajan, a local leader from Kerala, and Fathima Muzaffer, a local councillor from Tamil Nadu, were made national assistant secretaries at the party’s national committee meeting in Chennai Thursday.
Rajan hails from Wayanad district’s indigenous Kunduvadiyan community, categorised under Other Eligible Communities (OEC).
“I am very happy. This is a historical moment. My entire family belongs to the Congress. But I have seen politics rooted in social service in the IUML, unlike in other parties,” Rajan told ThePrint.
Rajan, from Irulam village near Wayanad’s Sulthan Batheri, joined the IUML in 2008 after a local IUML leader approached her father-in-law. She was working at a church-led charitable organisation then.
She says the IUML leader noted that her family, though Congress supporters, had a close relationship with the IUML.
Actively involved in various party-affiliated social service initiatives since 2010, she has risen through the ranks from a local women’s leader to its state leadership.
Locals from Wayanad told ThePrint that Rajan is a crowd-puller with excellent oratory skills.
Fathima is a local body councillor representing a ward in Chennai Egmore. She is also a member of the All India Personal Law Board and the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board. She has written several books, including Living in Harmony and Peace Voice.
The IUML youth wing’s national secretary, Najma Thabsheera, said the inclusion of women at the national level follows years of grassroots efforts to increase female participation.
“Fifty-one percent of IUML members are women. We have seen women rise to leadership roles in state and student wings, too,” she said.
Najma too emphasised that Rajan’s presence shows the diversity within the League, while Fathima is an inspiration to women.
IUML leader Siddhique Ali Rangattoor told ThePrint the League has always embraced other castes and religious groups, as it had supported B.R. Ambedkar during his selection to the constituent assembly. The leader said the party has close to 10,000 non-Muslim members.
“Over time, women have been involved in areas that were dominated by men. So, the political and religious sphere realised that their involvement in politics would benefit the party politically,” Rangattoor told ThePrint.
“Jayanthi has proved her talent in managing the organisation and public speaking. If we have chosen her when there are many other women leaders, that shows political decency in representation,” he added.
Political analyst Joseph C. Mathew, however, said the IUML has always tried to reflect diversity in its leadership positions but it’s “just symbolic”.
“They always showed this diversity as they had non-Muslim MLAs in the past. But it’s just symbolic. Just because they are including non-Muslims, it will not take away the party’s structure and practices that are rooted in religion,” he said.
In the 2001 and 2006 assembly elections, the IUML fielded U.C. Raman as an Independent in Kozhikode’s Kunnamangalam constituency, which was reserved for Scheduled Castes. Raman won the seat both times.
Political representation of Muslim women in Kerala
According to the 2011 Census, Muslims account for 26.56 percent of Kerala’s population. Though the number of Muslim women is not available, the sex ratio in Kerala is 1,084 females for 1,000 males.
But the 140-member Kerala assembly only has 12 women, and just one Muslim woman, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Kanathil Jameela.
The IUML, which positions itself as the political voice of the Muslim community, has only fielded two women candidates in its entire electoral history, both of whom were unsuccessful.
In 2021, it won 15 out of 25 contested seats in 2021, mostly from Malappuram, which has never had a Muslim woman MLA candidate. Its only woman Lok Sabha candidate was the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF’s) P.K. Zainaba in 2014, who lost to the IUML’s E. Ahamed by nearly 2 lakh votes.
In 1996, the IUML fielded its first female candidate, Khamarunnisa Anwar, from Kozhikode II constituency. She lost to the CPI(M)’s Elamaram Kareem.
In 2021, Noorbina Rasheed, a senior IUML leader, was fielded from Kozhikode South. She lost to the LDF’s Ahamed Devarkovil by over 12,000 votes.
“Noorbina was chosen after so much pressure. I’ve heard she was given a seat with the least chance of winning, and even party cadres didn’t support her campaign,” author Khadija Mumtaz said.
She said that while the state’s major political parties also hesitate to field women, particularly from the Muslim community, the IUML has always opposed it openly.
“The party has a policy not to have women in politics. Even the leadership controls how they dress and behave,” Mumtaz said, adding the 2009 decision by the then Left government to reserve 50 percent of seats in local body elections for women has played a pivotal role in creating political representation of women, including Kanathil Jameela.
“Discussions are going on. We are expecting some seats this year,” said Najma. She acknowledged, however, that change must come from within the community as well, which is slowly happening.
“There was always disagreement about fielding women until reservations forced the conversation,” she said, adding that there might be opposition from the community against the current decision.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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