B. Pocker

B. Pocker (1890 – July 29, 1965), Sahib Bahadur, was an Indian politician and social worker from Tellicherry, north Kerala, Madras Presidency.[1]

B. Pocker
B. Pocker
Personal details
Born1890
Tellicherry, Madras Presidency
Died29 July 1965(1965-07-29) (aged 74–75)
India
Political party

He was the second advocate from the Mappila community (backward class Muslims of Malabar District, Madras Presidency).

Early career

B. Pocker was born in 1890 at Tellicherry in Malabar District. He studied at Tellicherry Brennen College and the Madras Christian College. He graduated from Madras Law College in 1915 and started practising as an advocate in Madras High Court in 1917. He was only the fifth university graduate and second advocate from the Mappila Muslims of Malabar District.

Montagu-Chelmsford reforms

Pocker, now a senior advocate in the High Court, entered politics in the late 1910s by arguing for special Muslim constituencies in Malabar District. He famously submitted a memorandum during the introduction of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms (passed as Government of India Act, 1919).

Mappila Uprising

Pocker was a regional frontman of the Caliphate Movement (he supported Shaukat Ali at Madras by representing the Malabar District). He later led the relief activities for Mappilas, who were affected by the Mappila Uprising (1921–22). He formed the "Mappila Amelioration Committee" at Madras, which collected and distributed more than two hundred thousand rupees among the Mappilas.

Pocker founded the "South India Muslim Education Society" and "Kerala Muslim Education Association". He served as the Parliament Party Secretary of the United Nationalist Party in the Madras Assembly from 1930 to 1936.

In the Muslim League

B. Pocker was one of earliest leaders of the Muslim League in Madras Presidency (along with K. M. Seethi Saheb, K. Uppi Saheb and M. Mohammed Ismail).[1] He contested from the Kurumbranad-Kozhikkode Constituency (Muslim League). Though he lost the election to the candidate supported by Bafaki Tangal, the election campaign led by K. M. Seethi Sahib strengthened the Muslim League in Malabar. Eventually, Bafaki Tangal also joined, which spread the acceptance of Muslim League among Mappilas.

In the Constituent Assembly
Uniform Civil Code (CAD VII, 545)
"There are ever so many multitudes of communities following various customs for centuries or thousands of years. By one stroke of the pen you want to annul all that and make them uniform...The standards of which community would be taken as the basis for the uniformity of the code?"

B. Pocker, Sahib Bahadur, from CAD VII, 545 in, Making Constitutions in Deeply Divided Societies (2011) by Hanna Lerner (page: 138)

Pocker was elected from the Madras Assembly to the Constituent Assembly of India in 1946 (Malabar - Urban Muslim).[1][2]

Following the partition of India (1947), the All-India Muslim League was virtually disbanded.[1] It was succeeded by the Indian Union Muslim League in the Dominion of India (1951).[1] Even after partition, Pocker and his south Indian League colleagues remained with the League.[1] Within a month, the Constituent Assembly voted to abolish separate electorates for Muslim.[1] Pocker and K. T. M. Ahmed Ibrahim moved an amendment to retain the separate electorates.[1] This motion was defeated in the Constituent Assembly.[1][3]

In Lower House (Lok Sabha)

Pocker was elected from Malappuram Constituency to the Lower House (Lok Sabha) in 1952 with Madras Muslim League.[4][5] He was elected to the Lower House in 1957 from Manjeri Constituency as an independent candidate.[6]

His efforts helped to win Indian Muslims exemptions from the Special Marriage Act, 1954. He served as a National Executive Member of the Indian Union Muslim League and Vice President of Kerala State Committee.

1952 General Elections (Malappuram)

Candidate Votes % Party
B. Pocker 39.0 Madras Muslim League
T. V. Chathukutty Nair 30.6 Indian National Congress
Kumhali Karikedan 30.4 Communist Party of India
1957 General Elections (Manjeri)

Candidate Votes % Party
Pocker Kuttivatha 43.5 Independent
Kunhikoya Palat 34.4 Indian National Congress
Mohamed Koya K. P. 22.1 Communist Party of India

References
  1. Wright, Theodore P. (1966). "The Muslim League in South India since Independence". American Political Science Review. 60 (3): 579–599. doi:10.2307/1952972. ISSN 0003-0554.
  2. Constituent Assembly Debates (Proceedings) Volume VII
  3. "Constituent Assembly Proceedings". Parliament of India. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017.
  4. "History of Muslim League in Kerala and India". The Indian Express. New Delhi. 6 April 2019.
  5. Parliament of India (official website)
  6. Parliament of India (official website)
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