Cheriyan Kandi Muhammad Koya (15 July 1927 – 28 September 1983) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Chief Minister of Kerala from October to December 1979.^[1] He is more often noted for being the Minister of Education of Kerala from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1977 to 1979.^[1] After his Chief Ministership, Koya went on to become the 2nd Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala from 1981 until his death in 1983. He is the first Indian Union Muslim League member to lead a state in independent India.^[2]

As the Minister of Education, Koya championed the progress of the education of backward classes in northern Kerala.^[3] He also served as the Home Minister (1969–73) and the Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala (1981–83).^[1]

Cheriyan Kandi Muhammad Koya was born in 1927 at Atholi in northern Kerala, to Payampunathil Ali and Mariyumma.^[1][4] Koya floated the Muslim Students Federation, the students wing of the All-India Muslim League, in Malabar District while he was at Zamorin's College, Calicut and later helped to organize an admirable reception for the prominent Muslim League leader Liaquat Ali Khan at Calicut (1945).^[3] He joined the Chandrika newspaper, the official organ of the Muslim League, in 1946.^[5][3][1][6]

Koya was first elected to the Kerala Assembly in the 1957 legislative elections. He went on to hold several key Kerala cabinet posts (Minister for Education, Deputy Chief Minister, Home Minister, and Minister for Finance). He served under both Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India Chief Ministers (E. M. S. Namboodiripad, C. Achutha Menon, K. Karunakaran, A. K. Antony, and P. K. Vasudevan Nair).^[3][1] He was elected to the Lok Sabha in the 1962 (1962–67) and in 1973 (1973–77,^[3] by-elections, replacing recently deceased M. Muhammed Ismail).^[7]

He was a Member in the Kerala University Senate and served as Chairman, Governing Body, REC, Calicut.^[7]

Koya died on 28 September, 1983 while serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala.^[7] He was aged just 56 at the time of his death.^[7]

"Young men like C. H. Muhammad Koya realized that violent revolt promised nothing for them [the Kerala Muslims]. Electoral politics, on the other hand, might offer a great deal."

— Robin Jeffrey (historian)^[5]

Koya was known his eloquent oratory and was described by scholar R. E. Miller as "grassroots star of the Mappila community" and the "ranking hero of Muslim youth" in Kerala.^[3] He acted as a "bridge-builder" among various social and religious groups of Kerala.^[3] Koya is remembered for his "spirited" reply to Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India when the latter publicly criticized Indian Union Muslim League as "a dead horse" at Calicut (1955).^[3]

As the Minister of Education, Koya championed the progress of the Mappila community in secular education.^[3] During Koya's tenure as the Minister of Education, the University of Calicut was established in northern Kerala.^[3] He also advocated higher standards in the 'Arabic Colleges'.^{[lower-alpha 1][3]}

Source: Kerala Legislative Assembly (profile)

• 1st Assembly (1957–59) – Tanur
• 2nd Assembly (1960–64) – Tanur (resigned on 6 March 1962)^[7]
• 3rd Assembly (1967–70) – Mankada
• 4th Assembly (1970–77) – Kondotty (resigned on 5 February 1973)^[7]
• 5th Assembly (1977–79) – Malappuram
• 6th Assembly (1980–82) – Manjeri
• 7th Assembly (1982–87) – Manjeri (died on 28 September, 1983)

Source: Kerala Legislative Assembly (profile)

• My Haj pilgrimage
• Caux-London-Cairo
• The Malaysia I Saw
• How Legislative Assembly Works
• Soviet Union
• Muslim Rule in India Through Stories
• Five Days in Sri Lanka
• Camel to Cadillac
• Travel Around the World