Pinarayi Vijayan's political ploys to make inroads into Muslim vote banks in Kerala

The recent decision of the left-front government in Kerala to drop the plans to make recruitments to the State Wakf Board through the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) is widely considered as yet another political strategy of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to make inroads into the Muslim vote banks by weakening the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

Various Muslim outfits expressed concerns that making recruitments to the Wakf Board through PSC would hit the ongoing practice of recruiting only members of the Muslim community to the Board as reservation norms would have to be followed the PSC. Hence the left-front government decided to revoke it.

The political strategy of Vijayan was to directly hold talks with the prominent Muslim religious forums and revoke the decision, thereby trying to weaken the prominence of the IUML,. IUML, which is a coalition partner of Congress, has been trying to position itself as the political forum for addressing such issues of the Muslim community which comes to around 27 per cent of Kerala's population as per the 2011 census.

Vijayan even foiled an earlier bid of IUML to trigger religious sentiments by making a call for protests in mosques against the left-front government over the Wakf Board issue. Vijayan took prominent religious leaders like the Samastha Kerala Jem'iyyathul Ulema president Sayyid Muhammad Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal into confidence.

Political analysts point out that it could be seen as yet another attempt of Vijayan to weaken IUML's influence among the Muslim community by making direct liaisoning with prominent religious heads like Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal, who could easily influence the Muslim vote banks.

Political analyst M N Karassery said that the inclusion of IUML's breakaway party Indian National League's lone MLA Ahammed Devarkovil as well as another independent MLA from the community V Abdurahman in the second Pinarayi cabinet could be also seen as attempts to weaken the IUML's influence among the Muslim community. The present move of establishing direct rapport with the Muslim religious heads was another major move of Vijayan to weaken IUML's influence among the Muslim community, he said.

Vijayan already enhanced his influence in the Christian vote banks by strengthening his rapport with the Christian religious heads and initiating favourable decisions on their demands like reservations. Kerala Congress (M) party, which has considerable influence among the Christian vote banks of central Kerala, was brought to the left camps. These steps had visibly helped Vijayan in his thumping victory in the second consecutive term.