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CHICAGO (IslamOnline) - In a move that is being welcomed by a vast majority of Indian Muslims, the two main south Indian Muslim political parties will unite to contest upcoming local elections as one entity. Top leaders from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Indian National League (INL) are currently holding discussions to formulate the details of the merger. The two parties separated in the wake of the 1992 attack on the Babri Masjid. Then president of the IUML, Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait, had demanded that the party's Kerala unit withdraw from the Congress-led coalition government in the state. Speculation at the time believed that the Congress Party, which in control of the national government, had a hidden hand in the demolition of Babri Masjid. However, the IUML's national council refused to follow Sait's orders and instead replaced him with the G. M. Banatwala. Said subsequently quit the party and formed his own INL. Eight years later, in a changed political environment proving to be increasingly detrimental to Muslim interests, observers state the two political parties have showed maturity in their willingness to reconcile. "In the new political scenario, where the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] is the enemy of all secular forces, such forces have to join hands to fight the BJP," said INL's General Secretary M. A. Latif. "Things are moving in the right direction. The leaders of both the parties should forget personal enmity and work for the good of the community," he said. IUML's secretary E. Ahmed told IANS news agency, "We have always been for a merger of the INL to its parent body." The merger of the two parties is said to make a decisive impact on the state politics of Kerala, which will have its regional elections next year. The INL has been supporting the ruling communist-led Left Democratic Front, whereas the IUML is a part of the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front. A senior IUML leader told the IANS news agency, "If the merger happens, it will strengthen the UDF as there will be a consolidation of Muslims in Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, the INL is already keeping a distance from the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam [DMK] for its alliance with the BJP at the center." Several Muslim organizations have been trying to reconcile the rift between these two factions. The Tamil Nadu-based Thhenindia Isha-Athul Islam succeeded in bringing the two groups on the table for a meeting in Chennai on October 22. India's other significant Muslim party, the Hyderabad-based Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen, also split after the Babri Masjid demolition and is as such currently, holding one parliament and four assembly seats. Its rival, the Majlis Bachao Tehreek, also has popular support among the masses. |
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