In response to a question asked at the National Press Club of Washington DC, Rahul Gandhi, former President of the Congress Party of India, said that the Muslim League is a completely secular party.

Rahul Gandhi was asked whether the Congress alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala is not against secularism?

In response to this, Rahul said, ''There is no such thing as against secularism with the Muslim League. I think the person who sent this question has not read Muslim League properly.''

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is a regional political party in Kerala and has traditionally been part of the Congress-led coalition UDF.

Does Indian Union Muslim League have any relation with Jinnah's Muslim League?

After the partition of India in 1947, the All India Muslim League, which had spearheaded the movement for the creation of Pakistan, was disbanded. After the formation of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah became the Governor General of the country. After the next few months, the Muslim League came into existence in West Pakistan and the All Pakistan Awami Muslim League in East Pakistan.

The Muslim League provided the first six Prime Ministers of Pakistan, their tenures were very short and finally General Ayub Khan imposed martial law, after which the Muslim League also dissolved.

General Ayub Khan later revived the Muslim League as the Pakistan Muslim League, which grew and waned for several decades. The most talked about faction of the Pakistan Muslim League is Nawaz Sharif's party headed by Shehbaz Sharif.

In East Pakistan, the Awami League fought for Bengali nationalism and tried to find a way to independence from Punjabi-dominated West Pakistan. Under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, East Pakistan broke away from West Pakistan and came into existence as Bangladesh.

In independent India, the All India Muslim League was replaced by the Indian Union Muslim League and has a completely different history. The IUML contests elections under the Constitution of India and has a consistent presence in the Lok Sabha.

IUML is a strong party in Kerala and has a unit in Tamil Nadu as well. The Election Commission of India has long recognized it as the state party of Kerala.

The green flag of the IUML has a white moon and star on the top left and is completely different from the flag of Pakistan.

From the 3rd to the 16th Lok Sabha, two MPs from the IUML have always been in the Lok Sabha. Only in the second Lok Sabha it had no MP while in the fourth Lok Sabha it had three MPs.

The IUML has been a long-time coalition partner of the Congress and is part of the opposition UDF coalition in Kerala. The IUML has 18 MLAs in the current Kerala Legislative Assembly, compared to 20 MLAs in the 2011 Kerala Legislative Assembly.

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