PRICES- Where It Hurts

The beginning of the present developments in the CPI(M) can be traced to the controversy on the Muslim personal law early last year, long before the enactment of the recent amendment of Section 125 of the IPC. At that time EMS Namboodiripad had been campaigning alone in Kerala for protecting the rights of Muslim women. For many Marxist workers in north Malabar, waging regular street battles with the RSS, Namboodiripad's anti-Shariat speeches amounted to foreclosing the possibility of any alliance with the League, this also ted to the reunion of the two Muslim Leagues. But the CPI(M) leadership consistently took the position that the Muslim League leaders are not the sole representatives of Muslim opinion and as such any fight for the right of Muslim women would ultimately earn more committed support for the party among progressive Muslims.