Thiruvananthapuram
An alleged controversial remark made by a senior CPI(M) leader regarding the traditional headscarf worn by Muslim women in Kerala has landed the ruling party in soup with several religious outfits and scholars coming out against it. As the issue triggered a huge political row, the Marxist party rejected the comment by K Anil Kumar, a state committee member, saying choice of clothing is the fundamental right of an individual and there was no need for the party to express any opinion on that. The opposition Congress strongly criticized the ruling party and termed his statements as inappropriate and absurd. Later in the day, Anil Kumar in a Facebook post said he would uphold his party’s stand in the matter. While speaking at a recent event organised by esSENSE Global, an atheist outfit, Kumar said that it was due to the influence of the Marxist party that the women of the Muslim-dominated Malappuram district had abandoned thattam, the headscarf. Irked by his remarks, Samastha, an influential Sunni scholars’ body, said the CPI(M)’s double standards have been exposed through this. Abdusamad Pookkottur, a prominent leader of Samastha, alleged that apostasy was the crux of the Left party and that it was approaching minorities for votes. IUML leaders K M Shaji and KPA Majeed also joined the scholars’ body in denouncing the CPI (M) over Anil Kumar’s statement. In a hard-hitting Facebook post, Shaji, a staunch critic of the Marxist party leadership, alleged that the party has prepared two teams: one to go among rationalists to speak against the believers and another to take part in the meetings of believers and praise them. He asked the religious community whether they still want to believe that Communism is innocent.
