Former Kerala legislator, academic Nabeesa Ummal dies at 92

Nabeesa Ummal, an academic, former Left-backed legislator and first Muslim woman post-graduate in Malayalam language, died in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday due to age-related ailments. She was 92.

Nabeesa, an icon of women empowerment, won election as a CPI(M)-backed independent candidate from Kazhakootam Assembly segment near Thiruvananthapuram in 1987.

Before venturing into politics, Nabeesa taught in various colleges in a career spanning 33 years. Among her various achievements, she was also the first Malayalam scholar after legendary poet-scholar A R Raja Raja Varma to become the head of the Malayalam department and later the principal of University College in Thiruvananthapuram.

Nabeesa was born in 1931 to Asanummal and Khader Moideen, a police constable. Of the five daughters of the couple, only Nabeesa pursued higher education. She got her surname from her mother Asanummal during her school days.

Nabeesa got married to a soldier, Hussain Kunju, when she was a pre-university student. Muslim girls pursuing education after marriage was rare those days. But, Nabeesa, an avid reader since childhood, was determined to buck the trend. With the support of her husband, Nabeesa went on to become the first Muslim woman to earn a post-graduation degree in Malayalam.

Nabeesa started her career as a junior lecturer at Government Women’s College, Thiruvananthapuram.  As an eminent college teacher, Nabeesa taught in as many as seven prominent institutions in Kerala. She retired from service in 1986.

She also emerged as an orator and a Muslim woman face in the state’s cultural and academic fields. She was a regular speaker at events addressed by then CPI(M) stalwarts E M S Namboodiripad and E K Nayanar.

In 1986, when the Congress-led government at the Centre passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act to bypass the 1985 Supreme court Shah Bano verdict, the CPI(M) in Kerala launched a massive campaign for the rights of women and brought in Nabeesa to raise the voice for Muslim women. That was the stepping stone for the retired college principal into politics. At the behest of EMS, the CPI(M) handpicked Nabeesa as a party-backed candidate for Kazhakkoottam Assembly election in 1987. She defeated the Congress-led UDF candidate and became a legislator.

Although Nabeesa lost the Assembly election in 1991, she contested the local body polls of 1995 and became the chairperson of Nedumangad municipality, her hometown. In 2000, she bagged the President’s recognition for women empowerment.

Condoling her death, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said her contribution to public service and education will be long remembered. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Nabeesa had been a beloved teacher of several students in various government colleges across the state. Hailing her various contributions, the CM also recalled that she was a “Left sympathiser”.