It is with great interest that | read V. Prabhakaran’s Kerala News Letter (DV March 16) and N.K. Sharma’s subsequent demand (DV May1 p.10) that the Kerala Jamaat Chief must apologies for his alleged remarks about the SC/BCs. As one who knows T.K. Abdullah Moulavi, the former chief of Kerala Jamat-e-Islam, in close quarters, it is very hard for me to believe that he had made such a comment in the first place. Abdullah Moulavi is known here as an enlightened Muslim scholar without any elitist or casuist prejudices. Abdullah Moulavi was in fact addressing a large SIM gathering and he talked about ‘undams and Adak Odens without particularly referring to SC/BCs. That is a phrase in Malayalam standing for the dregs of the society. They can be savarnas or avarnas depending upon the circumstances. Abdullah Moulavi had in his mind those unscrupulous people who rush to enter Islam, without being actually convinced of its truth, for material benefits. The tone of his speech also made it very clear that he had nothing against the Dalits. | should appreciate it if DV correspondents go right into the original sources before raising allegations of racial slur against people of integrity and faith.
League leadership: This doesn’t mean that Muslim’s have no problems with the so-called elites who try to dominate poor Muslims politically and economically. I can understand N.K. Sharm’s rather angry response, himself being a resident of North India where even Muslims have developed a sort of caste mentality mainly due to centuries-old Hindu influence. But the caste system of the North Indian Muslims is a very faint reflection of the oppressive Hindu caste structure. Here, in Kerala Muslims have no castes. Any convert into Islam will become a full-fledged member of the community in a generation. That also undermines Sharma’s allegation that the Muslim League leadership in Kerala belongs to the elites. Like any political party, the League has also got its own wheeler dealers but its leadership is drawn from all classes. True there are Muslim leaders who do not want to ruffle the feathers of the ruling class. They try to become meek and docile making correct noises about Indian secularism and democracy. Conversions are like red rags to them. But unlike the Christian leadership, Muslims still show great empathy for the hardships of the lower castes. Muslims were the only community in-Kerala who allowed the SCs to take water from their wells and eat from their plates. It is one of the strange paradoxes of recent history that some of the BCs have joined hands with their tormenters to taunt and humiliate the Muslims who once gave their all scour and help. They go about in shorts + and Maratha caps wielding lathis to strengthen, of all things, the “unity of the nation!”
