C. H. Mohammed Koya

Cheriyan Kandi Muhammad Koya was born in 1927 at Atholi in northern Kerala, to Payampunathil Ali and Mariyumma. Koya floated the Muslim Students Federation, the students wing of the All-India Muslim League, in Malabar District while he was at Zamorin's College, Kozhikode and later helped to organize an admirable reception for the prominent Muslim League leader and later Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan at Kozhikode (1945). Koya was first elected to the Kerala Assembly in the 1957 legislative elections. He went on to hold several key Kerala cabinet posts (Minister for Education, Deputy Chief Minister, Home Minister, and Minister for Finance). He served under both Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India Chief Ministers (E. M. S. Namboodiripad, C. Achutha Menon, K. Karunakaran, A. K. Antony, and P. K. Vasudevan Nair). Koya died suddenly due to a massive hemorrhagic stroke on 28 September 1983 while serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala. He was aged just 56 at the time of his death. His death came in Hyderabad, where he had gone for a meeting of state Industrial Ministers. His dead body was flown back to Thiruvananthapuram, and later transported to his native place, where he was buried with full state honours. He was survived by his mother, wife, three children and many siblings. == Legacy ==

Koya was known his eloquent oratory and was described by scholar R. E. Miller as "grassroots star of the Mappila community" and the "ranking hero of Muslim youth" in Kerala. He acted as a "bridge-builder" among various social and religious groups of Kerala. Koya is remembered for his "spirited" reply to Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India when the latter publicly criticized Indian Union Muslim League as "a dead horse" at Kozhikode (1955). As the Minister of Education, Koya championed the progress of the Mappila community in secular education. During Koya's tenure as the Minister of Education, the University of Calicut was established in northern Kerala. He also advocated higher standards in the 'Arabic Colleges'. == Member of Kerala Legislative Assembly ==

Source: Kerala Legislative Assembly (profile) • 1st Assembly (1957–59) – Tanur • 2nd Assembly (1960–64) – Tanur (resigned on 6 March 1962) • 3rd Assembly (1967–70) – Mankada • 4th Assembly (1970–77) – Kondotty (resigned on 5 February 1973) • 5th Assembly (1977–79) – Malappuram • 6th Assembly (1980–82) – Manjeri • 7th Assembly (1982–87) – Manjeri (died on 28 September 1983) == In Kerala council of ministers ==

Source: Kerala Legislative Assembly (profile) • My Haj pilgrimage • Caux-London-Cairo • The Malaysia I Saw • How Legislative Assembly Works • Soviet Union • Muslim Rule in India Through Stories • Five Days in Sri Lanka • Camel to Cadillac • Travel Around the World ==Notes==