Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's Waqf Board reconstitution, which had drawn protests from a Sunni faction, appears to have been defused — for now — after the government promised representation to the group that felt excluded.
Minority Welfare Minister N Samsudheen said on Tuesday that a consensus had been reached with the Muslim factions that had expressed displeasure over their lack of representation in the reconstituted board. After a meeting with representatives of the Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar faction of the Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama, he said one of its members would be included. The faction then announced it was calling off its agitation.
The government dissolved the board headed by K S Hamsa last Friday — one constituted by the previous LDF government in March, with more than four years left in its term — and appointed a nine-member board led by Indian Union Muslim League leader M C Mayin Haji.
The Kanthapuram faction had accused the government of sidelining it, and had called marches to collectorates in all 14 districts on October 22. Samsudheen maintained the government had no intention of excluding anyone, but could not accommodate all in the board as some seats were reserved for the general category.
IUML state president Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal defended the board, saying excluded organisations could get representation in other bodies such as the Hajj Committee and the Madrasa Welfare Fund Board, and disputed that Samastha had none. Hamsa has challenged the reconstitution in the High Court, which declined to stay it and referred the matter to a division bench.
The Waqf Board row matters on both religious and political counts. On the separate Munambam land dispute, new chairman Mayin Haji had said residents should not be evicted and deserved humanitarian consideration, adding that the matter was sub judice.