Country’s secular fabric must prevail: Kanthapuram
Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliar, arguably the topmost influential Muslim leader in Kerala, is back to normal life after having suffered a brain stroke in October 2022. All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama general secretary and Kerala Muslim Jamat president, the 83yearold scholar is deferentially referred to as Ustad by his followers and eponymously known to others after his native village Kanthapuram.
Mr. Kanthapuram spoke to The Hindu from his Markaz office at Karanthur, Kozhikode, about the importance of upholding communal harmony and the secular fabric as the nation is going to the polls in separate phases.
‘Wellbeing of India’
“The secular fabric of the country should stand. Insha Allah, I shall poll my vote at Kanthapuram. And people should vote for those who work for the wellbeing of India,” he said in a subdued voice, sitting in a wheelchair. His words were clear, but they lacked the sonority that his speeches are famous for.
Although Muslims ruled India for about 800 years, they never tried to convert it into a Muslim nation. “They could have if they wanted, but they never did largely because of the fatwas (religious decrees) of the scholars of that time,” he said, adding that rulers should not be partisan.
Mr. Kanthapuram, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi three times in the last 10 years, hoped that Mr. Modi might be aware that he would not be able to rule a country like India for long by discriminating religiously. “India does not belong to any one particular cast or community. It belongs to all: Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh and others.”
No specific support
Mr. Kanthapuram said he would not support any political front in the election for the reason that they do not want problems in mosques and mahals where his men work.
“People are free to vote according to their conscience and circumstances,” he said.
However, deviating from his past electoral stand by offering “help to those who helped them”, Mr. Kanthapuram said this time they would help those who “are willing to work for the wellbeing of India.”
He agreed that there was a time when he displayed a leaning towards the Left when the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) opposed him.
“But that situation has changed. We do not have any animosity towards the Indian Union Muslim League.”
It was in 1989 that a section of Sunni scholars led by Mr. Kanthapuram walked away from the Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama following differences and formed a body of their own by the same name. “It was a question of sticking to the original Sunni ideology. We are the original,” he said, justifying his group celebrating the centenary of the Samastha.
Sunni movement
According to him, the 1989 split helped the growth and development of the Sunni movement in Kerala. “If unity is good for the community, then let there be a reunion,” he said. He agreed that both Samastha groups had started showing mutually acceptable overtures.