Malappuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday accused the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) of adopting a communal stand on various issues, drawing a strong rebuttal from the opposition party.
Vijayan said the IUML was taking up the positions of hardline Islamic organisations nowadays. The IUML leadership countered the charges, saying nobody could ignore their contributions in retaining the "beauty" of the secular face of Kerala. While Vijayan, speaking at a party conference in Malappuram, accused the IUML of repeating the slogans of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Popular Front, IUML strongman P K Kunhalikutty, MP, made it clear that his party has never compromised its long-drawn secular stand on any issue.
The chief minister said the right wing forces which are unable to come to the fact that the Left front has retained power in the state were trying to communalise even small issues. He said the opposition Congress-led UDF, in which IUML is a key partner, and the BJP, were yet to cope up with the fact that the Marxist party government has come to power in the state for the second consecutive time.
The UDF, BJP, Jamaat-e-Islami and all such groups were together in that move against the government, he alleged.
Vijayan cited the controversies over 'love Jihad' and 'halal' food as examples for a deliberate attempt to communalise issues.
Accusing the IUML of undergoing a process of radicalisation, Vijayan said, “those who want peace in that party should come out against this stand.”
However, Kunhalikutty rubbished the charges and said that the credit of all the achievements and developments, which Kerala boasts of now, goes to IUML also.
Stating that IUML was not a party which cultivates separatism, he also claimed that it even used to carry out campaigns to promote secularism along with its political activities.
"The presence of IUML is one of the reasons for retaining the beauty of the secular face of Kerala like this among other states in the country. The people of the state are well aware about it," Kunhalikutty said.
Stressing the point that secularism does not mean rejection of religion, he also said that religious faith and communalism should be viewed separately.
On its recent stiff protest against the Vijayan government's controversial decision to hand over the Waqf Board appointments to Public Service Commission, which was put on hold later, he said they could not compromise in infringing into the jurisdiction of the agency and the objection was part of a nation-wide fight.
(With PTI inputs)
