| C. H. Mohammad Koya | |
| Office: | 2nd Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala |
| 1Blankname: | Chief Minister |
| 1Namedata: | K. Karunakaran |
| Term Start: | 24 May 1982 |
| Term End: | 28 September 1983 |
| Predecessor: | Office Vacant |
| Successor: | K. Avukader Kutty Naha |
| 1Blankname1: | Chief Minister |
| 1Namedata1: | K. Karunakaran |
| Term Start1: | 28 December 1981 |
| Term End1: | 17 March 1982 |
| Successor1: | Office Vacant |
| Predecessor1: | R. Sankar |
| Order2: | 8th |
| Office2: | Chief Minister of Kerala |
| Term Start2: | 12 October 1979 |
| Term End2: | 1 December 1979 |
| Predecessor2: | P. K. Vasudevan Nair |
| Successor2: | President's rule |
| Office3: | Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly |
| Term Start3: | 9 June 1961 |
| Term End3: | 11 November 1961 |
| Predecessor3: | K. M. Seethi Sahib |
| Successor3: | Alexander Parambithara |
| Office4: | Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha |
| Term Start4: | 25 February 1962 |
| Term End4: | 21 February 1967 |
| Successor4: | Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait |
| Predecessor4: | K. P. Kutti Krishnan Nair |
| Constituency4: | Kozhikode |
| Term Start5: | 5 February 1973 |
| Term End5: | 20 March 1977 |
| Successor5: | Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait |
| Predecessor5: | Muhammad Ismail |
| Constituency5: | Manjeri |
| Office6: | Member of Kerala Legislative Assembly |
| Term Start6: | 5 April 1957 |
| Term End6: | 6 March 1962 |
| Constituency6: | Tanur |
| Successor6: | C. Muhammed Kutty |
| Predecessor6: | Position established |
| Term Start7: | 6 March 1967 |
| Term End7: | 17 September 1970 |
| Constituency7: | Mankada |
| Successor7: | M. Moideen Kutty |
| Predecessor7: | P. Abdul Majeed |
| Term Start8: | 17 September 1970 |
| Term End8: | 5 February 1973 |
| Constituency8: | Kondotty |
| Successor8: | P. Seethi Haji |
| Predecessor8: | Sayed Ummer Bafakhy |
| Term Start9: | 25 March 1977 |
| Term End9: | 3 January 1980 |
| Constituency9: | Malappuram |
| Successor9: | U. A. Beeran |
| Predecessor9: | U. A. Beeran |
| Term Start10: | 26 March 1980 |
| Term End10: | 28 September 1983 |
| Constituency10: | Manjeri |
| Successor10: | Ishaq Kurikkal |
| Predecessor10: | Abdulla Kurikkal |
| Birth Date: | 15 July 1927 |
| Birth Place: | Atholi, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Death Place: | Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Children: | Two daughters and a son (M. K. Muneer) |
| Party: | Indian Union Muslim League |
| Date: | 2 November |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Source: | https://web.archive.org/web/20051219145038/http://www.keralacm.gov.in/mohammed.html Govt. of Kerala |
Cheriyan Kandi Muhammad Koya (15 July 1927 – 28 September 1983) popularly known as C. H. Muhammad Koya was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Chief Minister of Kerala from October to December 1979. 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).
Cheriyan Kandi Muhammad Koya was born in 1927 at Atholi in northern Kerala, to Payampunathil Ali and Mariyumma.[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). He joined the Chandrika newspaper, the official organ of the Muslim League, in 1946.[5] [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). He was elected to the Lok Sabha in the 1962 (1962–67) and in 1973 (1973–77, by-elections, replacing recently deceased M. Muhammed Ismail).
He was a Member in the Kerala University Senate and served as Chairman, Governing Body, REC, Calicut.[7]
Koya died suddenly due to a massive hemorrhagic stroke on 28 September, 1983 while serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Kerala. He was aged just 56 at the time of his death. His death came in Hyderabad, where he had gone for a meeting of state Industrial Ministers. His dead body was flown back to Thiruvananthapuram, and later transported to his native place, where he was buried with full state honours. He was survived by his mother, wife, three children and many siblings.
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. He acted as a "bridge-builder" among various social and religious groups of Kerala. 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).
As the Minister of Education, Koya championed the progress of the Mappila community in secular education. During Koya's tenure as the Minister of Education, the University of Calicut was established in northern Kerala. He also advocated higher standards in the 'Arabic Colleges'.
Source: Kerala Legislative Assembly (profile)
| Pattom Ministry | Speaker (independent) | 09-06-1961 to 10-11-1961 | ||
| 2nd E. M. S. Ministry | Minister for Education | 06-03-1967 to 21-10-1969 | ||
| 1st Achutha Menon Ministry | Minister for HomeMinister for Education | 01-11-1969 to 01-08-1970 | ||
| 2nd Achutha Menon Ministry | Minister for HomeMinister for Education | 04-10-1970 to 01-03-1973 | ||
| 1st Karunakaran Ministry | Minister for FinanceMinister for Education | 25-03-1977 to 25-04-1977 | ||
| 1st Antony Ministry | Minister for Education |
| ||
| P. K. V. Ministry | Minister for Education | 29-10-1978 to 07-10-1979 | ||
| Koya Ministry | 12 October to 1 December 1979 | |||
| 2nd Karunakaran Ministry | Deputy Chief Minister | 28 December 1981 to 17 March 1982 | ||
| 3rd Karunakaran Ministry | Deputy Chief Minister | 24 May 1982 to 28 September 1983 |
Source: Kerala Legislative Assembly (profile)