When K.S. Hamza, the CPI(M) candidate in Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency, visited the graves of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leaders Syed P.M.S.A. Pookoya Thangal and Syed Hyderali Shihab Thangal at Panakkad before filing his nomination on Wednesday, it did not surprise the political circles in Malabar. Mr. Hamza described the ziyarat or visit to the graves as personal and there was nothing political in it. But he was quick to add that had Hyderali Shihab Thangal been alive, the IUML would not have fallen into “such a pathetic state”.
Mr. Hamza wanted to send home the message that he was an IUML man to the core, but a dissident who drifted away from the party because of differences with the current leadership. For the CPI(M), which even rubbed shoulders with PDP leader Abdul Nasir Maudani in Ponnani in 2009, it hardly matters. Mr. Hamza’s electoral ticket in Ponnani has been part of the CPI(M)’s long-drawn experiment with dissident and independent Muslim candidates.
But this time, the CPI(M) has given the party’s election symbol hammer sickle and star to Mr. Hamza. It’s for the first time that a non-CPI(M) man is contesting on the CPI(M) symbol in Ponnani. Political observers point out that the CPI(M) had no choice but to give its symbol to an IUML dissident because of the increasing concern over losing the symbol.
In Ponnani, the CPI(M) symbol has come back after three decades. In the elections of 2019, 2014 and 2009, the party tried Muslim candidates as independents with different symbols. In 2004, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1991, 1989, and 1984, CPI candidates had contested there on CPI symbol.
The CPI(M) has had its dividends from the long-drawn electoral experiment, the winners of which included MLAs like like Manjalamkuzhi Ali, K.T. Jaleel, P.V. Anvar, and V. Abdurahman. In the backstage of politics, it is heard that a lot of money is also involved. Almost all the Muslim dissidents the CPI(M) experimented with were either opulent or deeply influential. All but Mr. Jaleel were rich enough to fund the party in the elections.
When the party reaped gains from the electoral experiments it made for the Assembly with Manjalamkuzhi Ali (in Mankada), V. Abdurahman (in Tanur), P.V. Anvar (in Nilambur), and K.T. Jaleel (in Kuttippuram/Tavanur), it is yet to pull off a victory in Lok Sabha elections in Ponnani.
In 2019, the CPI(M) fielded Mr. Anvar in Ponnani, but his ramblings did not help the party. In 2014, Mr. Abdurahman as a CPI(M) independent candidate gave the closest fight ever to the IUML in Ponnani. And in 2009, when independent Hussain Randathani contested for the CPI(M), the hype of experiment was at its zenith with the then CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan campaigning for him along with Mr. Maudani.
The CPI(M) knows well that Parliament elections are a league apart. Yet, it is adamant on pulling off a victory by depending on the strengths of the dissident candidates. With the fingers crossed, the party managers are watching as Mr. Hamza goes about canvasing the voters without changing his Muslim League persona.
