Samastha Kerela Sunni Yuvajana

Sunni Yuvajana Sangham

Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS) was formed to give strength to the parent organisation and to convey its messages among the public. It was envisaged in such a way that any male who agrees with the policies and stand of Samastha Kerala Jem-Iyyathul Ulama could be a member of the SYS. The discussions on widening the Samastha’s activities were seriously deliberated upon at the Karyavattom conference of the Samastha in 1945. Following this, a committee under the leadership of Moulana Paravanna Muhiyudeenkutty Musaliyar was formed. Though certain results came out after the discussions, more deliberations happened at the 20th conference of Samastha held in Tanur on April 25, 1954. Paravanna Muhiyudeenkutty Musaliyar and Pathi Abdul Qadir Musaliyar reiterated the need for a new organisation. Thus, SYS was formed at the office of the Ansarul Muslimeen Sangham office in Kozhikode the following month. The meeting elected B Kutty Hasan Haji as president and K M Muhammad Koya as secretary. First unit of the SYS was formed in Valakkulam Puthuparamba, the native place of Samastha president Moulana Abdul Bari. The first taluk committee was formed in Tirur in 1958 under the leadership of M M Basheer Musaliyar. Though the committee had organised some programmes, there was no movement at the state level. The need for a constitution and policy document for the organisation was felt. Consequently, a mammoth meeting was held in Kozhikode in 1959 where the state committee was constituted with Samastha mushawara member and orator N Abdulla Musaliyar as president. B Kutty Hasan Haji was the secretary. The leaders travelled to various parts of Tirur and Wayanad and formed new units. Thus, the meeting of Samastha held in Kakkad in 1961 recognised SYS as its feeder organisation. The Samastha mushawara held on February 9, 1961, accepted SYS’ application and decided to announce it at a public meeting. General secretary Shamsul Ulama E K Aboobacker Musaliyar announced the decision at a public meeting, which was enthusiastically greeted by the crowd. A committee with K V Muhammad Musaliyar (Koottanad) as president and Kutty Hasan Haji as secretary led the organisation from 1962 to 65. It was this committee that brought out Sunni Times as the mouthpiece of the organisation in 1964. K V Muhammad Musaliyar himself was the founder editor. Amanath Koyanni Musaliyar and Shamsul Ualam were also chief editors of the publication. Sunni Times became defunct after some issues with the publisher in June 1977 and Sunni Voice was brought out during the same month. SYS’ activities witnessed a leap forward after Panakkad Pookoya Thangal was elected as its president in 1968. K P Usman Saheb was the general secretary. It was the golden age of the organisation and new units were constituted in areas where the SYS did not have any presence. The organisational capabilities of C H Idrose Musaliyar, who was the chief organiser, also helped the SYS scale new heights. Under their leadership, SYS became a real mass organisation, having branches across the state. Chappanangadi Bappu Musaliyar took over the reins of the SYS after the demise of Pookoya Thangal. Certain vested interests in the organisation ‘elevated’ Bappu Musaliyar and Usman Saheb to the national level. Around the time, A P Aboobacker Musaliyar first became the SYS’ acting secretary and later its general secretary. The political ambition of some of its leaders became quite evident during this time. Those in the leadership submitted a memorandum to the Samastha leadership to form a political party or to allow the SYS to function as a political outfit. The memorandum was summarily rejected and those who were behind the move was censured. The 1980s were a dark period in the history of the SYS. The organisation was com pletely controlled by persons with vested interests, who misused the platform of the SYS for their vested interests. The split was almost complete by the end of 1980. The controversial meeting of the organisation held in Ernakulam took place in this backdrop. The usual practice in the SYS was to take any important decision only after consulting the Samastha. But the organisation was kept in the dark about the conference and everything was decided unilaterally. SYS leaders showed the disrespect of handing over the invitation for the conference to Samastha leaders after deciding everything. The saddest part was that no one from the Panakkad Kodappanakkal family was invited to the conference. SYS had gained more acceptance under the leadership of the members of the family, including Panakkad Syed Muhammad Ali Shihab Thangal and Syed Umar Ali Shihab Thangal. The Samastha leadership intervened when a rival group decided to hold a parallel conference. The conciliatory talks failed with A P Aboobacker Musaliyar and his group staying away from the second round of talks. The Samastha leadership asked then SYS leadership to withdraw from the move to hold the Ernakulam conference, but it went unheeded. As a feeder organisation it was binding on SYS to obey the directions of the Samastha. As a result the SYS state committee was reconstituted with Panakkad Syed Umar Ali Shihab Thangal as president and Idrode Musaliyar as general secretary. As per the directions of Idrose Musaliyar, K Alikutty Musaliyar became the general secretary in 1992 and after the demise of Umar Ali Thangal, his brother Syed Hyder Ali Shihab Thangal became the president.