Waqf land row spills into Kerala's Taliparamba as CPI(M) accuses IUML of trying to usurp land leased to college

Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is trying to take political advantage of the Waqf issue, the CPI(M) in Kerala is alleging that the IUML is trying to grab Waqf land in Taliparamba in Kannur.

CPI(M) leaders, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, have unleashed a campaign against the IUML. The IUML is also trying to put up a defensive.

The row is over 25 acres of land of the Sir Syed College managed by Cannanore District Muslim Educational Association (CDMEA), which has IUML local leaders in key positions.

The land in question was taken on lease by the college management from the Taliparamba Jamaath Committee in 1967 with the nod from the Waqf board, which was a Waqf land of the Talipramba juma masjid. The college management also paid the lease amount till 2021.

However, in a recent affidavit submitted by the college management in the Kerala High Court with regard to a revenue dispute over the land, the college management maintained that the land was owned by one Narikkottu Eettiserry Illam and it was not Waqf land.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the IUML, which was accusing the BJP government at the Centre of trying to grab Waqf lands, was doing the same in Taliparamba. The CPI(M) also organised major demonstrations in Taliparamba over the issue on Thursday. The Waqf Protection Committee also launched a stir over the issue.

Meanwhile, the college management and IUML district leadership have come out with a defense that it was a clerical mistake in the affidavit and that the land was Waqf land owned by Taliparmba Juma Masjid.

IUML Kannur district president Abdul Kareem Cheleri said that even as the college management admitted the flaw and taking steps to correct it, the Chief Minister and CPI(M) leaders were trying to blow up the matter with political motives.

The CPI(M) is also blowing up the fresh row close on the heels of a mega rally organised by the IUML in Kozhikode on April 16 against the Waqf (Amendment) Act.

Meanwhile, there is also a counter campaign that even as large extent of other Waqf land in the region was also in possession of others, CPI(M) highlighted only this.