CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in a Facebook post showed his protest against the decision to remove the name of Variyan Kunnathu Kunjahammed Haji from the list of martyrs during the freedom struggle. Those removing him from the list of martyrs will also come with scissors to remove the names of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who led the freedom struggle, then Ansari, Hakeem Ajmal Khan, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, EMS, AKG, Harkishan Singh Surjit, Muzaffar Ahmed, P Sundarayya and Captain Lakshmi, alleged Kodiyeri.

This historic action is one of the major challenges facing post-independence India. Kodiyeri said that even the leaders who were national Muslims in the Congress had adopted the voice of the Communists and their stand for religious brotherhood and pluralism. Variyan Kunnathu Kunjahammed Haji was first included in the list of martyrs released by the centre. However a section of the people strongly opposed this.