The Muslim League’s slide had become pronounced by the late 1990s. Over 24 per cent or nearly one out of every four Keralites is Muslim, and the win-lose margin between the state’s Left and Congress coalitions is often below two per cent. But outside of the crumbling League, the community has no significant rallying platform of its own. No outfit can survive outside of the coalitions either.

Sensing Mahdani’s potential, Nambuthiripad, steering the Kerala Left which was trying to build bridges with the Muslims, suggested the Left could work with Mahdani in the late 1990s, saying he could not be deemed untouchable just because he believed in his religion. Theirs was no honeymoon, though. Mahdani was arrested discreetly in 1998 on another charge, while E.K. Nayanar’s Left government ruled the state. He was immediately handed over to Tamil Nadu, to be charged for the Coimbatore bomb blasts, locked up in jail. This happened while the Left was weighing its chances of doing business with the Muslim League, which was unhappy in the Congress coalition, and did not want Mahdani in the way.

The Congress-UDF immediately declared his release from jail as a poll promise, and the PDP backed the Congress coalition that swept the polls. But things changed yet again. The Congress government, with the League as a major constituent, officially asked Tamil Nadu not to let out Mahdani on parole from jail.

With Mahdani making no bones about his disappointment with the Congress, the Left began rooting for him again. CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan himself called on Mahdani in jail.

... contd.