S. M. Muhammed Sheriff
S. M. Muhammed Sheriff was an Indian politician and former Member of Parliament elected from Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Periyakulam constituency as an Indian Union Muslim League candidate in the 1971 election. S.M Muhammed Sheriff, a.k.a. 'Madurai Sheriff Sahib'. A charismatic and prominent Indian Union Muslim League leader groomed by Quaid-e-Millath Muhammad Ismail Sahib. He was a zealous social worker, professor, lawyer and a politician. The first elected Muslim League MP from Tamil Nadu in independent India. He played a vital role in many committees as a parliamentarian from the historic Ramanathapuram and Periyakulam Constituencies. He produced clear documentary evidences that Kachchatheevu belonged to India and spoke vehemently in Parliament that it should not be ceded to Sri Lanka and the consequences in such a turn of event. During Emergency rule in Smt. Indira Gandhi's period, he was the advisor to the Governor on the legislation of Tamil Nadu. He gave moral lectures to prisoners in jails and arranged for Jumma prayers to be conducted regularly in Madurai Central Prison. He was a close associate of Sayyid Abdur Rahman Bafaqi Thangal, C. H. Mohammed Koya, Panakkad Shihab Thangal, Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait, G.M.Banatwalla, A.K.Rifayee & Siraj-ul-Millath Abdul Sammad,and the bosom friend of Nagore E.M.Hanifa, Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed and B. S. Abdur Rahman. He was a powerful speaker in many Indian languages. As Propaganda Secretary of the IUML, he strengthened, expanded and ignited the spirit of the league from grass-root level. The most fondly remembered personality for his honesty, simplicity, philanthropy and secularism.[1]