Kerala Congress Alleges CPI-M Using Protests to Hide BJP Links

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition (LoP), V.D. Satheesan, on Monday, ruled out the Congress-led UDF’s participation in the Left Democratic Front’s protest against the Centre, accusing the Pinarayi Vijayan government of staging a “fake agitation” to conceal what he termed a political understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Addressing the media, LoP Satheesan said the Chief Minister and the Kerala government “stand submissively before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi”, while misleading the people in Kerala by projecting themselves as fighters against the Centre.

“This is a government that protests outside and signs papers placed before it by PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah inside,” he alleged. The Opposition leader said the Kerala government’s stand on Central schemes, including the PM SHRI project, had already exposed its duplicity. “If the UDF joins such a protest, we too will be compromised,” Satheesan said, making it clear that the Congress-led front would stay away.

The LoP alleged an “unholy understanding” between the BJP leadership at the Centre and the CPI-M leadership in Kerala to protect each other from legal troubles. He also accused the CPI-M of promoting majoritarian communalism in the state, on lines similar to the BJP. “Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself enabled hate speeches by Vellappally Natesan, and similar statements by A.K. Balan later made the pattern clear,” he said.

According to LoP Satheesan, the CPI-M has adopted the Sangh Parivar’s strategy of exploiting religious divisions for political gain. “After the last Parliamentary elections, the CPI-M has shifted from encouraging minority communalism to promoting majority communalism,” he alleged, adding that the current protest was aimed at diverting public attention from this shift.

Reiterating long-standing accusations, LoP Satheesan claimed that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had risen politically with the support of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). “Not a single Congress MLA has entered the Assembly with RSS or BJP backing. Pinarayi Vijayan, on the other hand, has done so,” he said, alleging secret engagements with RSS leaders even after assuming office as the Chief Minister.