Kerala: After CPM, AICC tries to gain confidence of Muslims over UCC issue

Amidst attempts by the ruling CPM in Kerala to woo Muslim outfits in connection with the protests against the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the Congress national leadership has chipped in to take the Muslim outfits into confidence.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal has spoken to leaders of the prominent Muslim outfits in Kerala and assured the Congress's backing to the protests against UCC.  The Congress state leaders are also meeting on Wednesday to discuss the future course of action on the UCC issue.

Also Read | Opposition MPs question 'intent' of UCC

Venugopal spoke over the phone to prominent Muslim outfits leaders like All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama general secretary Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar and Samastha Kerala Jem'iyyathul Ulema president Sayyid Muhammad Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal. He briefed them about the positions already taken by the AICC leadership against UCC. He also spoke to IUML leaders, said sources.

The Congress's moves came just ahead of a meeting of Muslim outfits convened by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which is a key coalition partner of the Congress, on Tuesday to discuss the protests against the UCC. The meeting decided to resist any communal polarisation attempts over the protest against UCC as well as to resist the campaigns that UCC was an issue affecting Muslims only. The meeting was attended by representatives of all prominent Muslim outfits, including those close to the CPM.

The meeting's message could be considered as a subtle message to the CPM, especially since the Congress was alleging the CPM was trying to communal polarisation by framing the UCC as an issue affecting the Muslim community only.

IUML supremo and state president Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal told reporters after the meeting that even as UCC was an issue concerning not only Muslims but scores of tribals and ethnic communities across the country, certain quarters were unleashing a campaign that it would affect only the Muslims. UCC need not be opposed on the streets, but legally and politically. As a first step a seminar would be organised with the participation of representatives of all communities to create awareness about the adverse impacts of UCC, he said.

IUML leaders did not give a clear reply to queries on whether it would participate in a seminar to be organised by the CPM, even as the CPM state secretary M V Govindan said the other day that the party was ready to join hands with Muslim outfits as well as the IUML to protest against UCC.