Leaders of the Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama, a body of Sunni Muslim scholars popularly known as Samastha on a press meet held on May 14, justified their decision to keep away mature women from the stage during public functions saying it was part of their 100-year-old tradition. The press meet was called after social media outrage over an action by their leader MT Abdulla Musaliyar, who snubbed a Class 10 student who was invited to the stage to receive her merit certificate.
Though the explanation Samastha leaders offered was equally offensive and sexist as the act of discrimination, only a handful of political leaders in Kerala condemned it unequivocally. While two women, Kerala Health Minister Veena George and R Bindu, the Minister for Higher Education, condemned the incident without mincing words, among men, strong critical words came from Left Democratic Front (LDF) MLA Mathew T Thomas and Governor Arif Mohammed Khan. Samastha leaders during their press meet stressed that there is no complaint by the girl and her family.
PK Navas, the state President of the Muslim Student Federation (MSF), against whom a complaint was filed by members of Haritha, the womens wing of the outfit for making derogatory remarks and was chargesheeted publicly supported Samastha saying it was a private scholarly function and that it is their choice whether a girl should come in public. MSF is a students’ organisation linked to the Indian Union Muslim League, a front partner in the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by Congress in Kerala.
In September last year IUML had dissolved the state committee of Haritha for going public with a sexual harassment complaint. P K Navas was also one of the accused in the case filed with the Women's Commission by Haritha against MSF leaders. Navas in his statement said Abdulla Musaliyar, who is also the General Secretary of the Samastha Kerala Islamic Educational Board, was being cyber-lynched and alleged that Islamophobia was behind the attack on the Muslim leader.
The IUML was quick to come to the rescue of Navas by dissolving Haritha, when allegations were against him. He turned out to be the first to back Samastha, even before they gave an explanation over the issue of blatant gender discrimination on stage committted by one of its leaders.
The IUML tactically remained silent, and no prominent leaders reacted.
State Education Minister V Sivankutty and a leader of the CPI(M) carefully dodged from reacting to it. “We LDF have great respect for women. If something that hurts this (dignity of women) happens or if any complaint is registered action will be taken,” he said.
The opposition leader VD Satheesan also made a statement placing himself and the party in a safe zone. “We cannot agree with any stance that is anti-women. I have seen the news report and if these visuals are true, I want to say we cannot agree with any anti-women viewpoint,” he said when the media sought his comments over the issue.
K Muraleedharan, a senior Congress leader and MP representing Vadakara MP too was careful in his reaction. “I have given prizes to both girls and boys for their excellence in examinations. In my constituency Samastha has got a big influence. I have no idea what happened there (in Pathiramanna of Malappuram),” he said.
Mainstream political leaders from the CPI(M) including the Chief Minister and senior leaders of the Congress were tight lipped and behaved as if nothing serious happened.
A political leader from Muslim community from Kozhikode spoke to TNM in anonymity, “Samastha is a group of scholars popular among the Muslim community in northern Kerala. Though they don’t claim a political affiliation, they are strong and powerful. They may or may not influence the vote bank, but a majority of the parties are scared of them. No one dares to offend Muslim groups beyond a limit,” he said.
Hameed Chennamangaloor, social critic and academician, says it's not surprising that many political leaders shied away from condemning the incident.
“It's about votes, no political front would want to lock horns with community leaders. We have seen how V Sivankutty reacted. “Even the BJP cannot question sexism, because they also follow the same principle, as we saw in Sabarimala women entry issue,” he added.
Hameed feels all political parties in Kerala are patriarchal. “The LDF could have extended chief ministership to a woman when they were elected for a second term in Kerala. But they did not. It's patriarchal and sexist,” he said.
He also pointed out that some leaders conveniently forget how to stand up for constitutional values. “Here the conflict is between religious laws and constitutional rights. No political party has the courage to show that they are with the constitutional values,” he said.
Even when Samastha justified their act of gender disacrimination by invoking a century-old tradition to keep women away from a public stage, no leaders questioned it. “No parties that claim to be secular here say that this 100-year-old tradition is unconstitutional and patriarchal. Its patriarcha Islam that is functioning here. Many Muslim organisations follow this and consider the status of women are below that of men,” said Hameed.