A comrade from the islands

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  The hello tune, “kizhakku pulari chenkodi paari (the red flag flutters in the eastern dawn) greets you, when you dial Lukmanul Hakeem, an observer from Lakshadweep, at the 20th CPM state conference here, reflecting his dream of a red dawn in the islands.Lukmanul 35, is the  secretary of the Kavaratti branch. ‘’I am one of the 46 members of  the party in the tiniest Union Territory in the country, which has a  total population of  64,429 of whom 93 per cent are indigenous Muslims under Scheduled Tribe,’’ he said. Of the ten inhabited islands with an area of 32 sq kms, the party has four branches in three islands under the Kerala State Committee. Kavaratti, the capital, has two branches while other two are in Andrott and Kadmat. “We recruit members only after very strict scrutiny. All our members are males in the age group of 25 to 40. The party has also a strong base of supporters including women in the islands of  Amini, Kiltan, Chetlat, and Minicoy.‘‘Our popularity is growing in the islands,” Lukman told Express, who had contested unsuccessfully in the last Lok Sabha elections.He came third in the fray with 488 votes of the nearly 40,000 votes polled in the islands, once termed as the bastion of the  late leader P M Sayeed who was elected to Lok Sabha 10 times between 1967 and Lukman is really hopeful of his party’s performance at the local council elections which is just nine months away and before that the party will get a local committee with branches in all the inhabited islands. 2004.