Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, a leading Sunni Muslim scholarly organization in Kerala, delivered a memorandum on July 13 to Chief Minister V.D. Satheeshan. The document requested that the state avoid implementing the PM SHRI scheme and instead create an Arabic and foreign languages university. The submission occurred during a visit by a Samastha delegation.
Senior Samastha leader Umar Faizy Mukkam later stated to reporters that the scheme would impose an RSS agenda on students and harm national secularism. The memorandum also called for three-day holidays during Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, new schools with additional batches in Malabar, and the proposed university, a longstanding Samastha request.
This move follows the Congress-led UDF government’s June 17 decision to proceed with PM SHRI after forming a four-member committee for review. The UDF had previously opposed the scheme in opposition but reversed course, noting that the prior LDF freeze on related agreements lacked legal force. The LDF had signed an MoU in October 2025 before halting it due to CPI objections.
Samastha’s intervention adds pressure on the current administration regarding the central education program.
