Kozhikode: Communist leaders may scoff at religious beliefs, but at least a few of them remain religious in their hearts. For instance, the late E.K. Imbichibava, a minister in the state cabinet in 1967-69, had performed Haj pilgrimage with the help of O. Abdullah, an ideologue of Jamat-e-Islami.
This has been revealed by O. Abdul Rehman, editor of Madhyamam daily, in an article in the annual issue of the Madhyamam weekly. He says that the CPM leader requested Abdullah, his elder brother, to facilitate his Haj pilgrimage incognito while on a visit to Qatar and the latter made the arrangements for it.
According to the article, Imbichibava, on a tour to Gulf countries to collect funds for the construction of AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, had a private meeting with Abdullah, then working in Qatar, and requested him to arrange for his Haj pilgrimage secretly. Abdullah made the preparations through Mohammad, described as a ‘young scholar’ and a person belonging to Abdul Rehman’s native place.
The article titled ‘Vishwasam, Athalle Ellam’ (faith is everything) claimed that Imbichibava performed all the rituals of the pilgrimage and also visited the holy city of Medina. The article, however, has not mentioned the year of the pilgrimage by the CPM leader.
Abdul Rehman had mentioned about the Haj trip of the late CPM leader, known for his earthy humour and extensive grassroots contacts, when CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan was engaged in a blistering attack against the Jamat-e-Islami.
Imbichibava, a pioneering communist leader belonging to the erstwhile Eranad taluk in Malappuram district, died in 1995.
