Palakkad: Kerala Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday hit out at the Sangh Parivar over the recent attacks on the Christian community across the country and said such hate crimes will not work in the state.
Addressing the CPI-M delegates meeting of the Palakkad district committee, Vijayan said while the Sangh Parivar activists attack Christians in other states, the BJP leaders in Kerala pretend to care for them.
Citing data from the Delhi-based United Christians Forum, Vijayan said there were 142 incidents of attack against Christians in the country in 2015 which increased to 478 last year.
"The Sangh Parivar has been attacking the Christian community across the country. However, here in our state, the BJP leaders are roaming around pretending to care about the Christians. In Kerala, we maintain a strong secular society. Such attacks will be strongly opposed in the state and such hate crimes will not work here," Vijayan said.
He said Kerala has proved that there is an alternative to the BJP.
"The people of the country have been pondering over the question of an alternative to the communal ideology of the Sangh Parivar. The country needs a strong ideology to oppose the communal agenda of the BJP. Only the Left parties have a strong ideology to oppose the Sangh Parivar," Vijayan said.
He said the Congress cannot become an alternative to the BJP due to the similarity on the financial policy.
"During this Christmas, there has been widespread attacks by the Sangh Parivar against the Christian community in the country. On December 24, they burned the effigy of Santa Claus. In Varanasi, Sangh Parivar activists barged into a hospital where Christmas celebrations were happening and raised Jai Sriram slogans alleging that conversions were happening. Many such incidents happened in Uttar Pradesh," he said.
The communist leader also listed attacks on the minority community at Ambala in Haryana, where an unidentified gang destroyed the historic church there.
"In Kurukshetra, they barged into a church and stopped the Christmas celebrations. They sang Hindu devotional songs there. In Gurugram, Sangh Parivar activists barged into a school where Christmas celebrations were happening," Vijayan said.
Vijayan dismissed the Sangh Parivar allegation that the Christian community was enaged in massive conversions.
"They claim that conversion is happening on a massive scale. Seven-and-a-half decades are over since we got independence and still the total Christian population is only around 2.3 per cent," Vijayan said.
He said if the Christian community, which has been engaged in educational, health services and charitable organisations, were into conversions on a massive scale, then this percentage would have increased.
