The CPM and the BJP have entered into a tacit understanding and its result would be disastrous for the Left politics, Congress-backed Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani said in Kochi on Saturday.
The human rights activist-turned-politician was in Kochi to campaign for Congress candidate Uma Thomas for the May 31 assembly bypoll.
Mevani slammed the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government for sending its chief secretary to Gujarat to learn about the governance model of that state.
“Earlier, we used to expose the so-called Gujarat model of development by comparing it with Kerala. Instead of that, some dialogue is happening between the BJP and CPM now. No BJP chief minister has gone to Gujarat to learn the governance model there. No BJP government has sent a top bureaucrat to Gujarat the way the LDF government did,” Mevani said.
“I don't know why the chief minister of Kerala has all of a sudden started praising the Gujarat model. This is disastrous. Gujarat model has a lot of anti-Muslim and anti-Dalit content. It's a model of corporate loot. Is this the model that you want to celebrate,” Mevani asked during an interaction with the media.
“I have heard people calling Vijayan double-hearted, but I think he is double-faced,” he said.
Vijayan had sent a two-member team led by chief secretary V P Joy to Ahmedabad to get an experiential knowledge of the CM Dashboard, a unique e-governance initiative of the Gujarat government.
After the visit, the chief secretary had said that it was comprehensive system for monitoring services and collecting feedback.
Mentioning his recent arrest by the Assam police for criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet, Mevani said the BJP government has already started unleashing fascism in the country.
Asked if he believed the CPM national leadership was also aware of the alleged understanding between the two parties, Mevani said yes.
On a question about what would be awaiting the Congress in the upcoming Gujarat elections especially in the wake of PCC working president Hardik Patel quitting the party, Mevani exuded confidence that they would win the polls this time. “Last time we were only short of eight seats to form government. This time we will make it up,” he said.
Recently, noted lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat, who rose to fame with her fight for justice in the Kathua rape case, was in Thrikkakara campaigning for Uma Thomas. Rajawat had joined Congress in October 2021.
