Banatwala was a rootless leader. He had to contest from Ponnani to get elected. It was due to the fact Malappuram had majority muslim population that he was able to get elected to the Parliament. He might have forefeited even the "deposit" if he had contested from any other place in Kerala. Of late even the muslims of Malappuram were dis-illusioned with him. I remember a muslim woman telling during the last Parliament elections that at least the then candidate could understand their language as Banatwala was not even understand the language of the local people.
Shah Bano case has done more harm to the muslims (even the Babri Masjid episode was an outcome of the same - the Congress govt opened the gates of the disputed structure to the hindus to placate them in the wake of this case - and we all know what happend afterwards)
