Kasaragod: CPM state secretary M V Govindan drew a distinction between the Congress at the national level and the Congress in Kerala by accusing the state unit of toeing the line of the BJP.
The motto of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) is BJP seva (service), he said. "It is clear that it is not the national policy of the Congress," he said.
Govindan was speaking to reporters on the second day of the CPM's statewide campaign - People's Resistance Yatra - in Kasaragod on Tuesday.
The BJP is the main adversary of the CPM, but for the KPCC, CPM is its enemy no. 1, said Govindan. "It is a stance which torpedoes the secular unity against (Narendra) Modi," he said.
Regional parties hesitate to join forces with the Congress because of its soft-Hindutva stance, he alleged.
The CPM leader said that the KPCC and the media in Kerala celebrate the actions of federal agencies against the LDF government.
Now the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates cases of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws, has raided the houses and offices of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh, where the Congress Plenary Session is to be held from February 24 to 26. "The Congress calls the action political vendetta," he said.
In September 2022, Govindan said that the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote an op-ed in Hindustan Times alleging that the BJP had reduced independent authorities to "tools of the executive" and "State agencies turn on any political party that opposes the current dispensation".
But the Congress in Kerala does not follow the stance taken by the national leadership of the party, Govindan said.
"If the ED acts against the Pinarayi government, KPCC leaders argue it is the right action. KPCC's motto is BJP Seva," he said.
'Rogue police officers will lose job'
Rogue police officers acting in defiance of the LDF government's stated policies will be expelled from the service, said CPM state secretary M V Govindan.
Isolated instances of such acts by officers in the police force were brought to the attention of the government. "For the first time in history, senior officers were expelled from the service when such acts were brought to the attention of the government," he said.
That was a clear answer to how the government would act if they took the wrong stance, he said. Police officers should implement the policies of the LDF government. "Instead, if they join hands with criminals, let there be no doubt, they cannot continue in the police force," Govindan said in response to a question by Onmanorama.com.
'JIH speaking to RSS which hunts minorities'
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) is accusing the CPM and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan of spreading Islamophobia but has no qualms in holding talks with the RSS, the most Islamophobic organisation, said CPM state secretary M V Govindan.
He said CPM was only raising the issue of JIH's secret meeting with the RSS. "It should make clear what it stands to gain by holding talks with the RSS," he said.
JIH's 'assistant ameer' P Mujeeburahman said the organisation was part of a group of 14 Muslim organisations that held talks with the RSS, so there is nothing wrong. "That is a strange argument," said Govindan.
Everybody knows the Hindutva communalists attack the religious minorities in the country, he said. "They mainly go after Muslim groups. Jamaat-e-Islami should make it clear what it is going to achieve by striking a truce with the RSS," he said.
On February 19, around 100 Christian groups and 15,000 people under the umbrella of the United Christian Forum organised a massive protest in Delhi against the frequent attacks on churches and Christians, said Govindan.
The group listed 525 attacks on Christians and churches in 2021 by Hindutva groups, and 600 cases in 2022. "These major attacks were reported from 21 states. It is a matter of pride that Kerala was not among the 21 states," the CPM leader said.
