M. K. Muneer is an Indian politician,

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

, social worker, singer, poet and author from

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. He was the Minister for Social Welfare and Panchayat in the last (May 2011 – May 2016) UDF Ministry, headed by

Oommen Chandy Oommen Chandy (31 October 1942 – 18 July 2023) was an Indian lawyer and statesman who served as the 10th chief minister of Kerala, serving from 2004 to 2006 and 2011 to 2016. He served also as the Leader of the Opposition, leader of the opp ...

and represented the Kozhikode South constituency in the legislative assembly. He was also the Minister for Public Works in A K Antony Ministry 3. Muneer is a State secretary of the

Indian Union Muslim League Indian Union Muslim League (abbreviated as the IUML or Muslim League) is a political party primarily based in Kerala. It is recognised as a List of political parties in India, State Party in Kerala by the Election Commission of India. After the ...

and was the Chairman of the Malayalam TV channel

Indiavision Indiavision was an Indian Malayalam language pay television news channel owned by Indiavision Satellite Communications Ltd, based at Kochi, Kerala, India. "There will be a relaunch of this channel in future" said by M. K. Muneer. It was the f ...

. He has written

ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

s and books including ''Fascism and the Sangh Parivar''. He is a qualified medical doctor and patron of MCC-THAS-Haemophilia Society. Muneer is the only son amongst the three children of

C. H. Mohammed Koya Cheriyankandi Muhammad Koya (15 July 1927 – 28 September 1983) popularly known as C. H. Muhammad Koya was an Indian statesman who served as the 8th Chief Minister of Kerala from October to December 1979. He is more often noted for being the M ...

, veteran Muslim league politician and former

Chief Minister of Kerala The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. '' De facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites th ...

and Amina. In March 2017 he was elected as Deputy opposition leader in Kerala Legislative Assembly. He did his MBBS in a private medical college in Karnataka. With a special order by the Government of Kerala post his father's death, he was allowed a transfer to

Government Medical College, Kozhikode Government Medical College, Kozhikode is a public medical college in Kozhikode, in the Indian state of Kerala. With over 3025 beds, it is currently the largest hospital in India and tenth largest in the world. It is also one of India's largest ...

and eventually completed his course from there. This became a controversy after he questioned the state aid given to a leader from Nationalist Congress Party.

Minister in different ministries

Kerala Legislative Assembly election, 2021

In the 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election, he contested from Koduvally. He defeated Karat Razack by a margin of 6344 votes.

Controversies

Muneer put a pro-LGBTQ post in Facebook during the

pride month Pride Month, sometimes specified as LGBTQ Pride Month, is a List of month-long observances, month-long observance dedicated to the celebration of LGBTQ pride, commemorating the contributions of lesbian, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender a ...

in 2021, only to be withdrawn later following severe criticism from party members. Once popular as the progressive face of IUML, Muneer later became a staunch supporter of patriarchal and conservative form of Islam. His strange argument that gender neutrality will make

POCSO The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act regarding child sexual abuse laws in India has been enacted as part of the child protection policies of India. The Parliament of India passed the POCSO bill on 22 May 2012, making it a ...

Act redundant stirred up a massive political controversy. More recently, he is known for delivering negative speeches against the LGBT+ community including a controversial article published in

Suprabhatam Suprabhatam () is a Sanskrit prayer of the ''Suprabhātakāvya'' genre. It is a collection of hymns or verses recited early morning to awaken the deity in Hinduism. The metre chosen for a Suprabhātam poem is usually ''Vasantatilaka''. The most ...

daily where he accused homosexuals of being violent and demanding rights for child sex abuse. Despite being a former Minister who implemented transgender policy in Kerala; for the first time in an Indian state, Muneer stirred controversy by questioning the gender of the first trans man in India who gave birth to a baby. He also described the

7 October attacks On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

as 'resistance' at an IUML rally after

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; born 9 March 1956) is an Indian politician, author, and former diplomat, who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is currently the Chairman of Committee on External Affairs. ...

called it an act of terrorism.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muneer, M Malayali politicians Living people Politicians from Kozhikode 20th-century Indian medical doctors 1962 births Indian Union Muslim League politicians Kerala MLAs 1991–1996 Kerala MLAs 2016–2021 Kerala MLAs 2011–2016 Medical doctors from Kerala