Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday came down heavily on Union home minister Amit Shah, who allegedly cast aspersions on the state government, and asked him to explain the problems being faced by the state.
Addressing a function in Kottayam, he said that Kerala is the only state where Sangh Parivar’s designs were defeated and people live in harmony and uphold secular values and credentials. “It is in nature of the Union home minister to express his desperation. The country will suffer badly if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime is given another term as it is busy undermining constitutional positions and secular norm,” he said.
On Saturday, while addressing a party rally in south Karnataka’s Mangaluru, Shah had criticised the earlier Congress regimes’ “appeasement policies that led to growth of many fundamentalist outfits including the banned Popular Front of India”.
“There is Kerala in your neighbourhood. I do not wish to speak more of it. Only the BJP, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, can protect Karnataka,” he had said.
He had also warned people that if the BJP fails to return to power, the state will “become like Kerala”.
Vijayan criticised Shah’s statement and said he should not cast aspersions on a state like this. “Why did he not complete his statement? This is the only state where Sangh Parivar’s designs fell flat. His move is aimed at fuelling communal passion to divert attention from the real issues. Yes, Kerala is different. Here people believe in secular credentials and live with amity,” he said.
“People who do not handle the country’s administration properly are trying to create a wedge between different communities and exploit the situation. We have seen it in many states. Unemployment, poverty and other issues are mounting but the Union government is after petty issues. Kerala is a place where there is no demarcation on community lines and people believe in brotherhood and amity,” he said.
The Congress is yet to react over Shah’s statement but its ally, Muslim League, slammed the minister. “We hope Karnataka does not fall into the trap of BJP. Kerala is a model for everyone,” said Youth League president PK Firoze, adding that a minister in his position should not make such statements.