Kottayam: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has dared Union Home Minister Amit Shah to elaborate on his veiled remark on Kerala's safety and secularism.
While attending an event in Mangaluru on Saturday, Amit Shah reminded the locals about their neighbouring state of Kerala and added 'need I say more'.
Pinarayi wasn't too pleased with Shah's incomplete sentence and urged him to explain. "He was talking about peaceful living. What danger did he sense in Kerala?" Pinarayi asked at a CPM event at Vazhoor here on Sunday.
"In Kerala, people of all faith live peacefully as guaranteed by the constitution. But is that the same situation in Karnataka?" Pinarayi said.
"Christians and other minorities have faced numerous attacks in Karnataka. But at the same time, Kerala does not have communal tension.
"If he was urging them to follow the Kerala example, fine. But that is not what he meant. He should complete his statement.
"We have heard of Sri Ram Sena, it's in Karnataka. They have unleashed widespread attacks in Mangaluru. The Sangh Parivar vandalised a 150-year-old Christian church in Karnataka on Christmas in 2021. Can the BJP government put an end to that?" he asked.
'Put an end to BJP reign'
Pinarayi said that another term for Narendra Modi-led BJP in the Centre 'will be catastrophic for the country'. The BJP government has been in power since 2014 and the next general elections are due in May 2024.
The Kerala CM justified his party joining hands with bitter rivals, Congress in the upcoming Tripura assembly polls. Tripura has been ruled by the BJP since 2018 and the other day Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the CPM-Congress alliance. The PM had said that those wrestling in Kerala have turned friends in Tripura.
Pinarayi retorted: "I think Narendra Modi does not have memory loss," said Pinarayi. He said CPM faced brutal attacks from the Congress in Tripura "before the BJP had any influence there". However, he added that such state-level alliances were necessary to defeat the BJP.
