Chennai: The absence of the Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML) flag from Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Wayanad Wednesday was a political stand meant to avoid unnecessary controversy, the party’s cadres have told ThePrint.
Multiple IUML workers from across Kerala said the Congress-led UDF, the state’s opposition alliance, didn’t want to give the BJP a chance to create a row like it did in 2019, and the IUML cadres didn’t have any disagreements. The IUML is part of the UDF.
“The flag didn’t have much relevance there. Last time, they made a big fuss and spread rumours like it (Wayanad) was (like) Pakistan,” IUML worker Muhammed Ali KA told ThePrint.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had remarked that looking at his roadshow in Wayanad, it was difficult to understand if Rahul was contesting from India or Pakistan. Speaking at a rally in Nagpur in the run-up to the polls, Shah said: “He is contesting from such a seat.”
Rahul’s rally, held on the day he filed his nomination ahead of the 2019 polls, saw huge participation from cadres of the IUML, which has a significant presence in the district. Pictures of the rally widely shared on social media showed cadres holding IUML flags among the Congress flags.
This time, Rahul, seeking a second term from the same constituency, held a rally along with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Kerala leaders there Wednesday, but there were no flags of either the IUML or the Congress, and the rally only had photos of Rahul and tricoloured balloons.
Ali said this was not out of fear, as alleged by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He added that by criticising the rally, Vijayan had given a chance to the BJP to create another controversy.
According to Ali, the lack of IUML flags would not have grabbed attention if Vijayan hadn’t spoken about it.
“It was not fear. It was a political strategy. If a party like BJP starts a controversy, there is a limit to which we can resist it. That’s what happened the last time. In places like north India, where political literacy is less, people might believe things without fact-checking,” he said, asserting that the absence of IUML flags from Rahul’s rally was a non-issue.
Another senior IUML leader, Siddique Ali Rangattoor, said the rally didn’t have any flags except for the tricolour, hence the issue didn’t demand any debate. He added that the UDF was trying to not aid a “team” that creates misunderstanding in a society that is polarised by things such as attire and beliefs. “Party cadres are more aware than leaders. None of them protested against it,” he told ThePrint.
IUML member P.M. Ameer too said the absence of the party’s flag was not an issue in the election, and the strategy was crucial to distance the BJP and ensure the success of secular forces. “Just because there was no IUML flag at the rally doesn’t mean the party won’t hold it in another function,” he said.
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Focus was on Rahul, says IUML state secretary
The purpose of Rahul’s rally in Wayanad was to highlight him, said IUML state secretary and working chairman of the party’s election committee in Wayanad, C.P. Cheriya Muhammed.
Talking to ThePrint, Muhammed said the controversy was created “out of jealousy towards Rahul Gandhi’s growing popularity in the constituency”.
“People started reaching the venue from 9 am and stayed there till 2 pm amid the heat and Ramzan fasts. Thousands of people participated and nobody even moved before it ended. It might have been the biggest rally of Rahul in Wayanad thus far,” said Muhammed, adding that the IUML cadres didn’t have any complaints regarding the absence of the party’s flag.
Muhammed also said there were no discussions on the flags before the rally, and it was just a normal event before the election.
The controversy
Rahul’s rally landed in a controversy after Vijayan said the UDF was scared to show its ally’s flag even though it needed its votes.
Addressing a press conference in Alappuzha Thursday, the CM asserted that the state doesn’t need a party like UDF, “which is scared of the BJP”.
Union Minister Smriti Irani, who was campaigning in Wayanad for BJP candidate K. Surendran, said if Rahul was ashamed of IUML’s support, he should reject it.
However, the IUML reacted by saying that the CPI(M), which is leading Kerala’s ruling LDF alliance, doesn’t have any business checking the IUML’s flags.
IUML national general secretary and MLA P.K. Kunhalikutty alleged that the CPI(M) couldn’t hold its flag independently anywhere outside Kerala.
Meanwhile, the Congress Friday said it doesn’t have to hide its partnership with the IUML as the party is not just a Congress ally in Kerala, but also a member of the INDIA bloc.
Party leader V.D. Satheesan alleged that Vijayan was trying to appease the BJP by attacking Rahul Gandhi. “Smriti Irani and Pinarayi Vijayan have the same voice. Same arguments. The way they attack Rahul Gandhi seems like their arguments were made in the same place,” he said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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