Muslim League is completely secular: Rahul Gandhi

Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi's statement that Indian Union Muslim League is a completely secular party received severe backlash from the BJP as they claim that the Kerala party is guided by the same mindset as Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s All India Muslim League.

Cabinet minister Anurag Thakur said, “These are the same people who had stayed back after partition. They formed the Muslim League after partition and became MPs. They advocated for Sharia law and wanted separate seats reserved for Muslims. They are the same people who are part of the same Muslim League. It is Rahul Gandhi and the Congress that see Hindu terrorism but feel Muslim League is secular.”  He added that it is necessary that the former Congress President speaks in favour of organisations like the Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist organisation banned in several countries, and the Muslim League as he has to contest against Wayanad, a Muslim-majority seat after Amethi loss.

On a US tour, Gandhi who was in Washington told the press there that Muslim League is a completely secular party and there is nothing non-secular about it. This assertion was in response to a question asked about Congress's alliance with the regional party.

BJP national spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi noted that Jinnah’s party had swept the pre-Independence provincial polls in Madras presidency, of which today’s Kerala was then a part. He claimed a link between the regional party and Jinnah’s party, which led to the partition stir among Muslims.

The Malappuram district body passed a proposal in 2013 to lower the marriage age bar for girls to 16 years from 18, as Muslims were in a majority in the area.  The then Congress government, which included the Muslim League, in the state backtracked after fierce protest from the opposition. He said, “The PFI, a banned radical Islamic organisation, is a “cultural" body.  For the Congress, parties like AIMIM, Muslim League and Indian Secular Front, a West Bengal party formed by a Muslim cleric, are secular.”

Taking a dig at Gandhi, Kerala BJP leader K J Alphons remarked that he should be forgiven for such comments as his “intellectual capacity is limited.” Amit Malviya who is the head of the BJP I-T department stated that “Jinnah’s Muslim League - the party responsible for India’s partition, on religious lines as per Rahul Gandhi is a ‘secular’ party. Rahul Gandhi, though poorly read, is simply being disingenuous and sinister here. It is also his compulsion to remain acceptable in Wayanad.”