The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) — the second biggest ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala and also a party that has a strong presence in Malabar districts — is struggling to tide over the crisis after allegations of mishandling of funds in the party’s mouthpiece, Chandrika Daily. Moyin Ali, the son of the party’s state president Panakkad Sayed Hyderali Shihab Thangal, had accused senior party leader PK Kunhalikkutty of being responsible for the alleged misappropriation.
It was on Thursday, August 5, that Moyin Ali alleged that MLA PK Kunhalikutty, the national general secretary of the party, was responsible for the issues plaguing Chandrika Daily. He alleged that the party is ‘revolving around Kunhalikkutty.’ It is for the first time in the history of the party that a member of the Panakkad Thangal family has made an accusation against a powerful senior leader of the party and now, the allegations have put the party leadership in a spot. Panakkad Thangals, who claim descent from the family of Prophet Muhammed, is the most powerful family in the entire Muslim community in Kerala and are members of the Muslim League. The fissures between the family and leaders like Kunhalikutty have forced others in the party to take sides. In view of the latest controversy, even the AP Aboobacker faction of Sunnis, who are arch-rivals of the Indian Union Muslim League, has urged its workers to keep themself away from the controversy and not comment on the Thangal family.
As part of the damage control exercise, the IUML, held a high-level meeting held in Malappuram on August 7, Saturday evening, and entrusted Sadiqali Shihab Thangal to hold further discussion with Hyderali Shihab Thangal on the action to be taken against Moyin Ali Thangal. However, it is learnt that the meeting witnessed dramatic scenes when PK Kunhalikutty expressed willingness to quit all posts of the party and from the MLA post, in the backdrop of the fresh allegations against him, hinting that the internal crisis within the party is unlikely to be resolved soon. An indication that Kunhalikkutty is slowly losing the upper hand in the party is that he has failed to receive support for his demand seeking disciplinary action against Moyin Ali. He also faced strong criticism from senior leaders at the meeting.
Earlier, there were reports that the party will take disciplinary action against Moyin Ali after the meeting — and this was a major demand made by Kunhalikutty’s supporters as well. However, the party has dropped the idea, considering the support Moyin Ali has from a section of party leaders and party workers. This was also after a request was made by the Panakkad Thangal family, asking the party to avoid taking strong disciplinary action against Moyin Ali.
The party meeting held on Saturday was attended by IUML’s Sadique Ali Thangal, Kunhalikkutty, ET Muhammed Basheer, PMA Salam, PV Abdul Wahab, KPA Majeed, MK Muneer and Muslim Youth League leaders. Leaders present at the meeting observed that the statement made by Moyin Ali has caused damage to the party and the party has entrusted Sadiqali Shihab Thangal to hold further discussions with Hyderali Shihab Thangal on Sunday.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Sadique Ali Shihab Thangal called the public statements made by Moyin Ali “unnecessary.”
“Moyin Ali has violated the tradition of the Panakkad Thangal family where members never made any public statement without any prior discussions within the family. The party will inform Hyderali Shihab Thangal, who is an elder member of the family, of the latest developments and he will take a final decision,” he said.
Considering the demand by Moyin Ali’s supporters, the party has also decided to expel Rafi Puthiyakadavu, who verbally abused Moyin Ali at the press meet, from the party.
It is learnt that the party has observed that any immediate action against Moyin Ali will further worsen the political crisis in the party, as a major section of the party still supports the demand for a detailed inquiry on the mismanagement of funds in Chandrika. MLA KT Jaleel, the leader of the ruling front and a former Muslim Youth League leader, had earlier said that he will release an audio clip of PK Kunhalikkutty if IUML takes any action against Moyin Ali. Jaleel had alleged that he had an audio clip of Kunhalikutty speaking to the Panakkad family about the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe on the money laundering case. He later informed the media that he will not release the audio clip, as the league has postponed the decision to take action against Moyin Ali. “
A protest has been brewing within the party for quite some time over the alleged transactions of unaccounted money through the bank account of Chandrika Daily. In March 2020, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) had raided the Chandrika office and had seized several documents about money transactions. The Enforcement Directorate had issued a notice to Thangal in July 2020, asking him to appear before the investigating officer in Kochi. However, later, the officials collected his statement by visiting his residence in Panakkad, Malappuram.
However, the situation worsened last week, after the ED issued a notice to Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal to appear before the investigating officer in connection with allegations of mismanagement. Thangal is the chairman and managing director of Muslim Printing and Publishing Co.Ltd, the publishers of Chandrika Daily. The ED is probing the allegation that the director of the newspaper had deposited Rs 10 crore in the bank account of the daily in Ernakulam and several crores of rupees were deposited in the newspaper’s accounts in other banks during the time of demonetisation. There was also an allegation that the transactions were benami transactions by party leader and former PWD minister VK Ibrahim Kunju, who was later arrested by the VACB on graft charges in the Palarivattom flyover case.
The ED notice was sent to Kozhikode as Hyderali Thangal is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital there. Following this, KT Jaleel alleged that it was PK Kunhalikkuty who cheated the Panakkad Thangal family by mismanaging funds, thereby leading to Hyderali Thangal getting dragged into the financial fraud case. In an attempt to defuse the crisis, Kunhalikuty himself said that there was nothing serious in the ED notice and it was only a notice seeking clarification from Thangal, as he is the Managing Director of the daily. But the controversy spiralled, as Moyin Ali Thangal alleged that it was PK Kunhalikkutty who is responsible for the issues plaguing Chandrika. He said the party revolved around Kunhalikkutty and that Kunhalikutty, along with Ibrahim Kunju, was responsible for the financial crisis in Chandrika. He had also alleged that Shameer, finance director of Chandrika, was a close associate of Kunhalikkutty.
The open criticism against Kunhalikkutty by a member of the Thangal family had sent shockwaves among party leaders and cadres across the state. In an effort to control the damage, party leaders immediately clarified that Moyin Ali had no role to play in the affairs of Chandrika Daily. However, a letter, purportedly written by Hyderali Thangal, entrusting Moyin Ali Thangal with the task of finding a solution to the crisis in Chandrika Daily, surfaced the next day, making the party leaders even more defensive. When a section of the party demanded action against Moyin Ali Thangal for his public remarks against Kunhalikkutty, another section demanded a detailed investigation into the mismanagement of funds in Chandrika. The acting general secretary of the party, PMA Salam, had stated that Hyderali Thangal’s son should not act like an instrument in the hands of the party's enemies.
Even though supporters of PK Kunhalikkutty demanded disciplinary action against Moyin Ali for his allegations, at the high-level committee meeting, the Panakkad Thangal family took a stand against doing so. It is learnt that senior leaders of the party, MK Muneer MLA and former MLA of the party KM Shaji, have also agreed with this decision. Earlier, Muslim Youth League leader Asif Ansari had said that there will not be any disciplinary action against Moyin Ali. Another leader of the organisation, Anwar Sadath, stood in support of Moyin Ali, saying, “The party is not a private property owned by any single person.”
After the high-level committee meeting, MP ET Muhammed Basheer said that there is no difference of opinion in IUML. “There is a planned attempt to tarnish the image of the party. Allegations regarding the mismanagement of the fund of Chandrika Daily are baseless and fabricated,” he said. KM Shaji also said that difference of opinion in the party signals that the party is democratically active.
Even though the committee took some actions to resolve the crisis, the allegations levelled by Moyin Ali that the party is revolving around PK Kunhalikkutty are unlikely to settle down soon. The party’s debacle in recently held Assembly elections and Kunhalikkutty’s alleged role in the drop in the party’s vote share is likely to be at the center of discussions within the party in the backdrop of allegations against Kunhalikkutty, who failed to get support at the high-level committee meeting even from senior leaders like KPA Majeed and ET Muhammed Basheer.