The IUML has long been a Congress ally, and is part of the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala. The IUML has 18 MLAs in the current Kerala House, and had 20 members in the 2011 Assembly. The IUML has long been a Congress ally, and is part of the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala. The IUML has 18 MLAs in the current Kerala House, and had 20 members in the 2011 Assembly. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Aditynath equated the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) with the pre-partition Muslim League Friday. “Muslim League is a virus. If someone is affected by this virus, he cannot survive and today, the main opposition party- Congress is affected by it. Imagine, if they win what will happen? This virus will spread in the entire nation,” Adityanath said on Twitter. The BJP has raised questions about the support of the IUML to Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Kerala’s Wayanad constituency, and several BJP supporters have likened the IUML’s flag to that of Pakistan. What is the history of the IUML in Kerala and India? Soon after Partition, the All India Muslim League, which had led the movement for Pakistan, was disbanded. Over the next few months, the party of Mohammed Ali Jinnah (who after the creation of Pakistan had become the Governor General of the new country) was succeeded by the Muslim League in West Pakistan and The All Pakistan Awami Muslim League in East Pakistan. Also read | Adityanath does not know anything, says Akhilesh Yadav The Muslim League gave Pakistan its first six Prime Ministers, all of whom had short tenures, before it was dissolved by the martial law regime of General Ayub Khan. Ayub subsequently resurrected the party as the Pakistan Muslim League, which over the following decades splintered, reunited, was dissolved and reconstituted. The Pakistan Muslim League’s best known faction today is the one led by Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif. In East Pakistan, the Awami Muslim League championed the cause of Bengali nationalism, and sought to chart a course independent from Punjabi-dominated West Pakistan. Under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, East Pakistan ultimately broke free from the West. In independent India, the All India Muslim League was succeeded by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), whose history was entirely different. The IUML fought elections under the Constitution of India, and has always had a constant, if small, presence in Lok Sabha. The IUML is the strongest in Kerala, and has a unit in Tamil Nadu as well. It has long been recognised by the Election Commission of India as a state party in Kerala. The IUML’s flag has a white crescent and star at the top left corner of rectangular green, and is clearly very different from the flag of Pakistan, which has a broad white strip to the left of a square green patch. The white crescent and star in the Pakistani flag is much bigger, and sits in the middle of the green. The IUML has had two MPs in every Lok Sabha from the Third to the outgoing Sixteenth Lok Sabha, with the exception of the Second, in which it had no representation, and the Fourth, in which it had three MPs. A leader named B Pocker was a Member of the First Lok Sabha, representing the Madras State Muslim League Party from the Malappuram constituency, which was then part of Madras. The IUML had one MP, E Ahamed (Ponnani) in the Fourteenth Lok Sabha. The IUML has long been a Congress ally, and is part of the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala. The IUML has 18 MLAs in the current Kerala House, and had 20 members in the 2011 Assembly. Nationally, the best known IUML leaders have been Ahamed, a former union Minister, the educationist G M Banatwalla, and the veteran Cutchi Memon leader Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait. These three leaders, along with the current two-term sitting MP E T Mohammed Basheer, have represented the Ponnani seat in Lok Sabha continuously from 1977 onward. The Manjeri Lok Sabha constituency was also won by the IUML constantly from 1977 to 1999, before it became part of the Malappuram constituency. The Malappuram and Kozhikode seats too, have a very strong IUML presence. Malappuram, Kozhikode and Ponnani are all contiguous to the Wayanad seat where Rahul Gandhi is contesting.<doc-sep>MALAPPURAM: While rumours and social media discussions surrounding its green flag is troubling Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), one of the major allies of Congress-led UDF in the state, there was conspicuous absence of IUML flags in a Youth rally organized by the party in Wayanad on Wednesday.Muslim League workers participated in the rally carrying white umbrellas with picture of Rahul Gandhi imprinted on it. But party leaders maintained that the absence of flags in rally was not part of any decision to avoid flags, but it was a novel campaign carrying umbrella with photo of candidate.It is also to be noted that some party workers carried white flags with photo of C H Muhammed Koya, along with green flags when they received Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi at Karipur airport on Wednesday night.After a section of media reported that UDF is planning to avoid waving of Muslim League flag to cheer up Rahul Gandhi, during his visit to Wayanad on Thursday to submit nomination papers, the state general secretary of the party, K P A Majeed, was forced to issue a statement denying that the reports are baseless.Majeed has clarified that there was no such decision to avoid flags or symbols of Muslim League during Rahul’s visit in Wayanad. “IUML is proudly using the same green flag right from the first day of formation of the party,” he said.After the announcement of Rahul’s candidature in Wayanad several social media users across the country posted a video where people were seen cheering up Rahul holding his poster along with green flags of Muslim League. They claimed that Pakistani flags were used for Rahul’s campaign in Wayanad.District vice-president of IUML in Wayanad, T Muhammed, who is also the assembly-level campaign committee chairman of UDF, said that there are concerted efforts to malign the image of the party which always upheld secularist and democratic values. “These campaigns have only one single motive, and that is to create confusions and mislead voters,” he said.Muhammed also said that statement of CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in support of Muslim League in the flag issue was not out of good intention. “Earlier he had said that Congress is joining hands with fundamentalists in Wayanad. Now he is trying to divide UDF workers in disguise of supporting Muslim League,” he said.<doc-sep>Image Source : INDIA TV Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India TV Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday filed his nomination from Wayanad in Kerala. Along with his sister Priyanka and party leaders, Rahul took out a road show in which green star crescent flags of Indian Union Muslim League appeared with the tricolour Congress flags. IUML is an ally of Congress in United Democratic Front in Kerala, and its flag has been the original green crescent star one. IUML has a good base in Muslim dominated pockets of Kerala, and there should be no objection to the use of the green crescent star flags. There is no problem for Rahul as such in Wayanad because of the green flags, but when images of these green flags being displayed along with Congress flags were flashed across the nation on TV channels, it is surely going to give a wrong message to the people. The green star cresecent flag happens to be Pakistan's national flag, albeit with a white margin on the left, but the public at large in the rest of India may not take this kindly, particularly at a time when India-Pakistan tension is at its peak. BJP leaders have already gone to town showing these pictures and videos and alleging that when Rahul Gandhi seeks Hindu votes, he puts on a 'janeu' and goes on temple hopping, and when he needs Muslim votes (there are roughly 29 pc Muslim voters in Wayanad), he uses green Muslim League flags. Congress leaders will now have a tough time explaining why these green IUML flags were used in Rahul's road show. Watch the full episode here: Aaj Ki Baat: Monday to Friday, 9 PM India’s Number One and the most followed Super Prime Time News Show ‘Aaj Ki Baat – Rajat SharmaKe Saath’ was launched just before the 2014 General Elections. Since its inception, the show is redefining India’s super prime time and is numerically far ahead of its contemporaries.<doc-sep>
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday alleged that the Congress has entered into an "unholy alliance" with the Muslim League which was evident from the green flags seen at the time Rahul Gandhi went to file nomination in a procession from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. Gandhi filed his nomination paper from Wayanad which has a sizable Muslim population, on Thursday. A video of Gandhi's procession while going to file nomination at Wayanad has gone viral. It was recorded from a spot that showed green flags of the Muslim League fluttering over the procession. "Gandhi ran away from Uttar Pradesh and filed his nomination from a seat in Kerala. In his procession there was neither the Indian Tricolour nor the Congress symbol 'hand' but only the Muslim League's green flag with stars and mooon," he claimed while addressing an election rally. "This unholy alliance has exposed the mindset of the Congress. The Muslim League was responsible for the partition of the country and the killing of lakhs of people during that time. Now the Congress has a political alliance with the same party," the UP chief minister said. In Assam too, the Congress has entered into an understanding with Badruddin Ajmal's AIUDF which is responsible for myriad problems in the state, he alleged. "The Congress has compromised the national security and your security by entering into both these alliances," he told the rally. The Congress is finding it difficult to find candidates in the state as it is working with "negative forces", he said. There is, however, no formal alliance between the Congress and the AIUDF for the general elections. The Congress has lost in all the states in the North East but the party has not learnt the lesson and is repeating the same mistake again and again, he added. The BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strengthened the nation, he asserted. Following China's incursion into Doklam through Bhutan, it got a befitting reply and was forced to retreat, Adityanath said adding that Modi has enhanced the country's stature in the world by directing attack on terrorist camps inside Pakistan. After the attack, Pakistan went crying to other countries but the world leaders have replied that India has done the right thing, the UP chief minister claimed. "The USA that had entered Pakistan to finish off Osama Bin Laden. Israel had entered Palestine. India is the third country to enter another nation to attack terrorists," Adityanath asserted. He asserted that India under Modi has emerged as a global economic power attaining the sixth position from the earlier 11th place under the UPA regime. "There has been no discrimination on the basis of caste, region, language and religion. All are enjoying the fruits of development," the senior BJP leaders said. The prime minister has ensured development of the Northeast by directing his ministers to visit the region twice a month, understand the problems of the people and resolve it at the earliest, Adityanath said.