The final rites of Kanathil Jameela, Koyilandy MLA, who passed away on Saturday night (November 29), will be held at a mosque in Atholi in the district on Tuesday (December 2).
According to CPI(M) sources, the mortal remains are now kept at the private hospital in Kozhikode city, where she had been undergoing treatment. The family members are awaiting the return of her son, Ayreej Kanathil, who is in the United States. The body will be taken to the Kozhikode district committee office of the CPI(M) on Tuesday morning and later to Koyilandy Town Hall and then to Thalakkulathur for the people to pay their last respects. By the evening, the body will be shifted to her home at Thalakkulathur. The final rites will be performed at the Atholi Kuniyilkkadavu Juma Masjid burial ground, the sources added.
Tributes pour in
Meanwhile, tributes are pouring in for Ms. Jameela from various walks of life. Residents of Thalakkulathur grama panchayat, where she served as president in 1995, recall how Ms. Jameela staged a sit-in at the office of the Water Resources department ahead of Onam to get a drinking water connection for a settlement of tribespeople. Between 2000 and 2005, she was the chairperson of the panchayat’s standing committee on welfare. Those were the days of decentralisation of power and the People’s Plan campaign, when citizens got the feeling for the first time that they had a say in the development works in their locality. Through ‘grama sabhas’, Ms. Jameela could make a regular and direct contact with the people and be involved in their daily struggles. Thereafter, she served as the president of the Chelannur block panchayat in the 2005-10 period and as the president of the Kozhikode district panchayat in the 2010-15 period. Kidney patients and their family members are grateful to her for launching ‘Snehasparsham’ to ensure financial support for them.
Though she was elected as the district panchayat president again in 2020, Ms. Jameela quit her post after her victory in the Assembly polls from Koyilandy a year later. Her experiences as an administrator in the three-tier local bodies helped Ms. Jameela to a great extent in her tenure as an MLA. Even though she had to be away from her constituency for medical treatment after being diagnosed with cancer six months ago, Ms. Jameela made it a point to regularly interact with the people through online mode.
Published – November 30, 2025 06:55 pm IST
