C. H. Mohammed Koya

Cheriyan Kandi Muhammad Koya (15 July 1927 – 28 September 1983) popularly known as C. H. Muhammad Koya was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Chief Minister of Kerala from October to December 1979. He is more often noted for being the Minister of Education of Kerala from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1977 to 1979. After his Chief Ministership, Koya went on to become the 2nd Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala from 1981 until his death in 1983. He is the first Indian Union Muslim League member to lead a state in independent India.

C. H. Mohammad Koya
2nd Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala
In office 24 May 1982 – 28 September 1983
Chief Minister	K. Karunakaran
Preceded by	Office Vacant
Succeeded by	K. Avukader Kutty Naha
In office 28 December 1981 – 17 March 1982
Chief Minister	K. Karunakaran
Preceded by	R. Sankar
Succeeded by	Office Vacant
8th Chief Minister of Kerala
In office 12 October 1979 – 1 December 1979
Preceded by	P. K. Vasudevan Nair
Succeeded by	President's rule
Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly
In office 9 June 1961 – 11 November 1961
Preceded by	K. M. Seethi Sahib
Succeeded by	Alexander Parambithara
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 25 February 1962 – 21 February 1967
Preceded by	K. P. Kutti Krishnan Nair
Succeeded by	Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait
Constituency	Kozhikode
In office 5 February 1973 – 20 March 1977
Preceded by	Muhammad Ismail
Succeeded by	Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait
Constituency	Manjeri
Member of Kerala Legislative Assembly
In office 5 April 1957 – 6 March 1962
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	C. Muhammed Kutty
Constituency	Tanur
In office 6 March 1967 – 17 September 1970
Preceded by	P. Abdul Majeed
Succeeded by	M. Moideen Kutty
Constituency	Mankada
In office 17 September 1970 – 5 February 1973
Preceded by	Sayed Ummer Bafakhy
Succeeded by	P. Seethi Haji
Constituency	Kondotty
In office 25 March 1977 – 3 January 1980
Preceded by	U. A. Beeran
Succeeded by	U. A. Beeran
Constituency	Malappuram
In office 26 March 1980 – 28 September 1983
Preceded by	Abdulla Kurikkal
Succeeded by	Ishaq Kurikkal
Constituency	Manjeri
Personal details
Born	(1927-07-15)15 July 1927 Atholi, Madras Presidency, British India
Died	28 September 1983(1983-09-28) (aged 56) Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Political party	Indian Union Muslim League
Spouse	K K Amina ​ (m. 1950)​
Children	Two daughters and a son (M. K. Muneer)
As of 2 November, 2007 Source: Govt. of Kerala

As the Minister of Education, Koya championed the progress of the education of backward classes in northern Kerala. He also served as the Home Minister (1969–73) and the Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala (1981–83).

Life and career

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 Liaquat Ali Khan at Kozhikode (1945). He joined the Chandrika newspaper, the official organ of the Muslim League, in 1946.

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). He was elected to the Lok Sabha in the 1962 (1962–67) and in 1973 (1973–77, by-elections, replacing recently deceased M. Muhammed Ismail).

He was a Member in the Kerala University Senate and served as Chairman, Governing Body, REC, Kozhikode.

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

"Young men like C. H. Muhammad Koya realized that violent revolt promised nothing for them [the Kerala Muslims]. Electoral politics, on the other hand, might offer a great deal."

— Robin Jeffrey (historian)

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

Ministry	Office	Term of office	Source(s)
Pattom Ministry	Speaker (independent)	09-06-1961 to 10-11-1961
2nd E. M. S. Ministry	Minister for Education	06-03-1967 to 21-10-1969
1st Achutha Menon Ministry	Minister for Home Minister for Education	01-11-1969 to 01-08-1970
2nd Achutha Menon Ministry	Minister for Home Minister for Education	04-10-1970 to 01-03-1973
1st Karunakaran Ministry	Minister for Finance Minister for Education	25-03-1977 to 25-04-1977
1st Antony Ministry	Minister for Education	27-04-1977 to 20-12-1977 04-10-1978 to 27-10-1978
P. K. V. Ministry	Minister for Education	29-10-1978 to 07-10-1979
Koya Ministry	Chief Minister	12 October to 1 December 1979
2nd Karunakaran Ministry	Deputy Chief Minister	28 December 1981 to 17 March 1982
3rd Karunakaran Ministry	Deputy Chief Minister	24 May 1982 to 28 September 1983

Works

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

Further reading

• Chief Ministers, Ministers, and Leaders of Opposition of Kerala (PDF), Thiruvananthapuram: Secratriat of Kerala Legislature, 2018

External links

• C. H. Mohammad Koya: Interview with India Today (1979)
• C. H. Mohammed Koya in Louis Malle's Phantom India