Madhani tried to convert me to Islam: Former PDP leader

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A former leader of the PDP has alleged that PDP chairman Abdul Nassar Madhani had tried to convert him to Islam.

Addressing a news conference here on Tuesday, A.P. Kakkad, who claimed to be a former state secretary of the PDP, said that he had resigned from the party eight years ago after Madhani tried to convert him to Islam. He also claimed to have been told by Madhani that the upper caste people could be tamed only if the Scheduled Caste adopted an extremist line.

He alleged that during a meeting with Madhani at Hotel Mass in Ernakulam, he was asked to go to Ponnani for conversion.

Madhani offered him Rs 5 lakh and promised him a matrimonial alliance from Muslim community. Madhani had also bought him a set of books from the Islamic Centre, Palayam, he said.

Kakkad said that he had escaped from the hotel by promising to let him know about his decision on conversion after studying the books. His decision to quit the party was following the pressure to convert to Islam and propagate extremism, he said.

Kakkad also said that PDP’s former state organising secretary T.A. Velayudhan, hailing from Ernakulam, was converted by adopting the name T.A. Mohammad Bilal. Madhani had helped him for his sister’s marriage. Though he continued to be Mohammad Bilal, he later quit the PDP. PTC (PDP’s trade union entity) state secretary K.S. Babu from Thiruvananthapuram was also converted similarly.

He married a Muslim girl and settled at Ottasekharamangalam, but later quit the party, Kakkad said.

He said Madani had allured them to his party promising to empower the dalits.

He also claimed that former MLA Wilfred Sebastian, M.V. Prasad, Chithrabhanu, S. Suvarnakumar, Thaliyil Vanajan, the dalit and backward community leaders in the PDP, had quit the party following Madhani’s extremist activities. But when contacted, PDP working chairman Poonthura Siraj said that he had not heard about A.P. Kakkad.

PDP chairman Abdul Nassar Madhani was not available for comment.

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