In 2025, before Finance Minister K N Balagopal began juggling with figures in the budget speech, he took a moment to express alarm over the global unrest and conflict. He then took the CPM's popular vow of not tolerating communalism in any form - majority or minority. This year, he did exactly the same act, but injected more sting in his words.

"There are highly venomous communal snakes lurking to destroy this unity of Kerala. We must see that they are active with new strategies to communally divide, polarize and subjugate the Keralites. The new strategy preached by ‘election experts’ is to stigmatise those who create the defence of public unity against communalism. We turn down these stigmatisations with contempt. Let me remind that it is not easy to play with fire". The Minister sounded almost heroic in his words, but unabashedly purposeful too.

In the past one year, CPM's flawed social engineering had severely dented its secular image. They lapped up crushing losses in the Nilambur bypoll and local body elections. The party was so busy doting over the Hindu voters that the minority votes drifted away.

The CPM has been relentlessly bitter towards Jamaat-e-Islami, hoping that it would please the Hindus. Repeated losses in elections should have forced second thoughts, but the party stuck with it, even prompting senior leaders like A K Balan and Saji Cherian to spew flagrant comments.

While presenting the budget, Balagopal didn't mind weaving in sharp political rhetoric. He was contemptuous in brushing aside criticism of playing the communal card as 'stigmatisation'. It also indicated that the CPM would do little to alter the course. Balagopal would later demonstrate the balancing act, something CPM has been doing during house visits.

The Minister made the point very clear in the first line itself under the head 'Welfare of minorities'. He set apart an amount of ₹94.69 crore for the welfare of minorities and claimed it is in excess of 15.99% of the provision in the previous year.

While the allocations mostly centred around scholarships, Balagopal took care to raise the amount. An amount of ₹11 crore was provided for continuing the scheme, namely ‘Chief Minister’s Research Fellowship for Minorities’.

He announced a new scheme, ‘Overseas Scholarship for Minorities’, for providing world-class education to the students of minority communities. As per the proposal, financial assistance will be given for their studies in accredited institutions abroad.

An amount of ₹4 crore has been set apart for implementing this scheme. Besides, an amount of ₹3 crore was earmarked to establish a Historical Research Centre at Ponnani in the name of the famous Islamic Scholar and Social reformer, Sheikh Zainuddin Makhdoom II.

The choice is relevant. According to an article by Nabeel Muhammed R, Makhdoom's commitment to religious harmony and brotherhood was vividly demonstrated in his efforts leading to the Battle of Chalayam. This historic confrontation, involving people of both Hindu and Muslim faiths, stands as a resounding setback to Portuguese influence in India.

Makhdoom's role in fostering unity and collaboration transcended religious boundaries, leaving an enduring impact on the collective resistance against external threats, the article shows.