LDF & UDF trade barbs over support
Kozhikode: Welfare Party's support for UDF and PDP's backing of LDF have triggered a sharp political clash between rival fronts in Nilambur as they compete for electoral gains. Welfare Party is the political wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), while People's Democratic Party (PDP) is led by Abdul Nazar Madani, an accused in the 1998 Bengaluru serial blasts case.
JEI and PDP announced their support for UDF and LDF respectively on Monday.
CPM state secretary MV Govindan termed JEI a communal organization with global ties and an agenda to create an Islamic theocratic state. He slammed UDF for accepting JEI's support but defended the LDF's acceptance of PDP's backing, claiming PDP had suffered mistreatment in Kerala.
Govindan slammed UDF for aligning with JEI, calling it 'a coalition of communal elements'.
"They've followed this pattern in several elections, including Palakkad bypoll. UDF has become an alliance of communal forces and will face the consequences," he added.
When asked about LDF accepting PDP's support, Govindan said PDP does not aim to establish a theocratic state. CPM leader Elamaram Kareem also attacked UDF, saying JEI promotes an ideology that supports terrorism. "How can the Congress claim to be secular while joining hands with them?" he asked.
Opposition leader VD Satheesan accused CPM of double standards, saying it had previously held talks with JEI and accepted its support in past elections. "How is it okay for LDF to get support from Jamaat-e-Islami but not UDF? Those who criticize Welfare Party's support for UDF stay silent when PDP backs LDF. People will see through CPM's double standards—they once called JEI's support 'hopeful and exciting'. So why is Congress being targeted for accepting it now?" he asked.
Satheesan also reminded Govindan of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's earlier comments about JEI, in which he described it as "one of the Muslim organizations with a clear political stand on national and international issues."
Satheesan said that in all six elections he contested, JEI and Welfare Party had backed the LDF candidate. He added that after 2019, they shifted to support the Congress at the national level to fight communalism. "When they supported CPM, they were called secularists. Now that they support UDF, they're branded communalists? This is typical CPM hypocrisy," he said.
BJP leader K Surendran accused UDF and LDF of seeking support from religious extremist and terror-linked groups just to win elections, warning that such alliances would harm society.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
40 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump's travel ban fuels despair among Arab Americans in Michigan
The ban on travel from certain countries that took effect Monday reminiscent of President Donald Trump's first-term restrictions that became known to many as the Muslim ban is once again souring relationships among Arab American voters in the key battleground state of Michigan, a group that Trump sought to make inroads with during the 2024 election. It came as a particular shock to many Yemeni Americans in the Dearborn area, who were surprised to find their country on Trump's new list banning travel to the US by citizens of 12 different countries, mostly in Africa and the Middle East. This is the reward to the community that defied everybody else?" asked Wali Altahif, a local activist who advocates for Yemeni and other immigrant communities. "That said, 'No, we're going to support you, we going to vote for you'? The new proclamation, which Trump signed last week, applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. While it may not elicit the same protests as 2017, many Yemeni and Arab Americans in the all important battleground state see it as yet another offense contributing to enormous dissatisfaction with both major political parties in the US. The aim of the new ban, the Trump administration said, is to protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes. Altahif described it as selective discrimination and collective punishment. Michigan is home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the US, largely concentrated in the Detroit metropolitan area. The state was an epicentre of anger at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the administration's support of Israel's offensive in Gaza, which has resulted in a worsening humanitarian crisis and sparked a historic shift away from the Democratic Party. With Trump's history of policy and rhetoric, including the restriction on travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries during his first term, the new restrictions and anger over the toll on Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war have left many Arab American voters feeling that both major political parties have failed to deliver for them. A dramatic change in Dearborn In the November election, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Dearborn, America's largest Arab-majority city, since 2000. Harris lost 15,000 of Democratic votes compared to Biden's 2020 win after Trump visited the area days before the election, campaigned in a local cafe and said he'd bring peace to the Middle East. The shift was muted but real. Trump picked up 3,000 votes in the city and third-party candidate votes swelled to 20 per cent of the overall vote. Many did not vote for a candidate at all. Trump won Michigan and the presidency for the second time in three attempts. In Dearborn, nearly half of its 110,000 residents are of Arab descent and the largest Arab nationalities represented are from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. Many Yemeni Americans in the metro Detroit area voted for Trump in the 2024 election after his vows for peace, which came at a time of widespread conflict and instability in the Middle East, Altahif said. In Yemen, a near decade-long civil war has pushed its population to the brink of famine. They are part of the society, they are raising their kids, he said of Yemeni communities. There are exceptions to the ban. They include green-card holders and people with US family members who apply for visas in connection to their spouses, children or parents. Altahif expects the ban to make it much harder for families separated by the distance to reunite. He said it took his wife from Yemen five years to get a visa approved before coming to live in the US in 2024. Widespread unease Many in the community are reluctant to talk openly about the new travel restrictions for fear of retaliation, even if they are US citizens or green-card holders. Others are reluctant to leave the country for fear of being held up by border agents when returning home, something Arab and Muslim Americans already report dealing with at airports. Amir Makled, a Dearborn-based civil rights attorney, said the restrictions have been similarly chilling for Muslim travellers compared to the 2017 policy. He's received several calls from people worried about being detained when travelling back to the US, even if they are citizens or lawful residents. One person of Yemeni descent ultimately cancelled travel for the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, a pillar of Islamic faith, Makled said. People overall are opting not to travel, even when they have a legal right to do so, he said. Both major political parties will have to appeal to the Arab and Muslim communities in the Detroit area in key upcoming races in 2026. With open races for the governor's office and a US Senate seat, a few thousand votes could tip the balance of power in Lansing and in Congress. Where these voters land is going to, I think, make a difference in terms of who ends up in those seats, said Peter Trumbore, chair of the department of political science at Oakland University. The war in Gaza drove Yemeni Americans away from the Democratic Party, Altahif said, and Trump has not made good on his promise to quickly bring an end to the Israel-Hamas war which has resulted in the deaths of more than 55,000 Palestinians. Altahif noted state Democrats who have vocally opposed the travel ban, but said he has not seen Republicans do the same. Osama Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, said candidates from both parties who are running for governor and the US Senate have met with him in recent months as the 2026 midterm races start. He also met with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a longtime Democrat who is running as an independent for the governor's office. Siblani called the travel ban a racist executive action that does nothing to help people in war-torn Yemen and Sudan, nations where many metro Detroit residents have relatives. But their disappointment in both Democrats and Republicans may leave them looking for a third option.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Zhoran Mamdani overtakes Andrew Cuomo in new poll, takes lead in New York mayor's race
Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist in the New York mayoral race, has pulled ahead of Andrew Cuomo for the first time, according to a new poll reviewed by POLITICO. As reported by POLITICO, conducted by Public Policy Polling for city comptroller candidate Justin Brannan's campaign, the survey shows Mamdani leading Cuomo 35% to 31%—a slim margin within the 4.1% margin of error. Zohran Mamdani, who could become New York City's first Muslim and Indian American mayor, was born in Kampala, Uganda, and moved to the city with his family at the age of 7. He became a naturalised US citizen a few years after completing college, where he co-founded his university's first Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. Mamdani comes from a prominent family—his mother, Mira Nair, is an acclaimed filmmaker, and his father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a professor of anthropology at Columbia University. Cuomo, who has consistently led since launching his campaign on March 1 to challenge Mayor Eric Adams, now faces a shift in the race's dynamics. Notably, the poll did not include a ranked-choice voting simulation, but it may reflect a reshuffling in this highly unconventional contest just weeks ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary, according to the report. The poll, conducted on June 6 and 7 among 573 likely Democratic voters, came shortly after the first televised mayoral debate featuring nine candidates. Just a day earlier, on June 5, Mamdani received a major boost with an endorsement from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez added significant political momentum to his campaign. The poll's methodology — with 39% of responses via landlines and 61% via text messages — appeared to favour Mamdani, who performed strongly among voters responding by text. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mamdani said if you speak to the people directly about issues they care about, such as the sky-high cost of living, you can successfully build a coalition, regardless of "what we have been told is the politics that can succeed in this city and the ways in which we have been told how to run a campaign and who we actually have to speak to.' (With inputs from AP and POLITICO)
Deccan Herald
an hour ago
- Deccan Herald
Trump travel ban is as pointless as his 'Muslim ban'
By Patricia Lopez President Donald Trump has resurrected the travel ban from his first term. This time, it's more expansive and better designed to withstand a judicial challenge. But it's still a solution in search of a problem — and likely to cause massive disruption for US residents with friends and family ban went into effect at the nation's airports on Monday, affecting 19 countries. Aside from a few narrow exceptions, travel from a dozen nations will be blocked: Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Another seven face partial restrictions: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and says Musk was 'very nice' to express regret on his posts . Although the first travel ban in 2017, aimed at Muslim-majority countries, sparked massive protests around the country, this broader ban has met with a far more muted response. That may indicate that Americans are becoming inured to Trump's xenophobic policies. Or they may be overwhelmed by the sheer ferocity on display as Trump takes the unprecedented step of sending the Marines in to quell protests unfolding in Los not clear what the administration hopes to achieve by banning visits from the poorest countries in the world. The executive order purports to 'protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats,' noting that travelers in a number of the countries overstay their visas and have governments incapable of adequate is blocking what are mostly business and tourist visas really the best solution to address such concerns? Only three countries on the list — Cuba, Iran and Syria — are considered by the US to be state sponsors of terrorism. And most terrorists in the US are home-grown. The biggest terrorist threat in the country, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is domestic. That's true even if you look only at Islamic extremist attacks.. Trump specifically cited the recent Boulder, Colorado bombing by an Egyptian national here on an expired visa as an example of why the travel ban was needed. But Egypt isn't on the list. The administration also ignores the fact that the US conducts its own extensive vetting before admitting travelers on foreign visas. That includes thorough security screenings and the collection of biometric data that can be run through national databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Vetting Center, among to the people who overstay their visas, that is a legitimate and serious problem that also has troubled previous administrations. The Center for Migration Studies estimates that 40% of unauthorized immigrants arrived not by illegally crossing borders, but on visas that have since expired. Blocking new travel from these countries, however, is an ineffective original 'Muslim ban' was halted by lower court injunctions that rightfully ruled a ban targeting a particular religion was unacceptable. Trump fought back with two more versions, until a version focusing on nations was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. He continued to broaden that list until the last year of his presidency. When President Joe Biden took office, he revoked the | Trump's new travel ban: Who is exempt. The new ban has been neatly constructed to avoid lawsuits — a triumph for an administration that has faced blue state challenges on nearly every major makes exceptions for existing visa holders and some special cases. But the special cases don't seem to have been thought through. For example, that category includes Afghan translators who worked with US troops, but not their families. It also includes the athletes, coaches and support staff for two global events scheduled to take place in Los Angeles: the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics. But it makes no such exception for the thousands of fans who might be expected to pour in from those ban will be disruptive and cruel for many immigrant families nationwide. For example, Minnesota has the largest Somali refugee population in the US, along with significant refugee resettlements from Sudan and Myanmar. Habon Abdulle, the head of a Ayada Leads, a Minneapolis nonprofit serving women of the African diaspora, told the Sahan Journal, a local immigrant news outlet, that the impact would be immediate and dramatic. 'The previous travel bans left behind heartbreak — weddings missed, funerals unattended, futures put on hold,' Abdulle said. 'These are not political abstractions. These are human stories, interrupted.'Nations often must make tough decisions knowing the outcome will inflict pain. If the need is demonstrable and the strategy sound, that is the price of leadership. But this travel ban does not meet those tests.
