CM Vijayan playing majority community appeasement card: Congress

Thiruvananthapuram, March 5
Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly and Congress MLA V.D. Satheesan on Wednesday said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was "inclining" towards the BJP and RSS and there was a shift in his stance.

“Till the Lok Sabha polls, Vijayan was praising the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) -- the second biggest ally in the Congress-led United Democratic Front -- and after the polls, Vijayan is now playing the card of majority community appeasement,” said Satheesan.

"All along, the CPI(M) and Vijayan have been shifting positions to suit them. Now, Vijayan says the BJP is not a fascist party, but if you look into the numerous articles of its former general secretary Sitaram Yechury, he clearly labelled the BJP and RSS as fascist. Look, when the general secretary says a statement, it’s not his personal view, instead, it is the party’s view,” said Satheesan.

“After the demise of Yechury, see what Vijayan is saying and is now giving a clean chit to the BJP,” added Satheesan.

“It’s hilarious to hear him say that it is the Congress that has a soft corner towards the Sangh Parivar forces. Our leader Rahul Gandhi is steadfast on his position, and just see how he attacks them and see what Vijayan does when he goes to campaign for his party candidates in Karnataka, where the Congress and the BJP are engaged in a direct political fight,” he said.

“Moreover, in Delhi, Vijayan blames the Congress for fighting the AAP. AAP is part of the INDIA bloc, and our talks failed when the AAP decided to contest on its own. We also decided to fight on our own. Even the CPI(M) fielded their candidates and secured 0.4 per cent votes. Had they not contested, who knows if AAP would have won more seats? Vijayan is forgetting the past when he himself contested in the 1977 Assembly polls with the support of Sangh Parivar, and in 1989, his party had a tacit understanding with the communal elements, and now he is teaching us,” said Satheesan.

"Vijayan and his party were till recently wooing the IUML to come and join them. But the IUML supremo, just the other day, remarked that they have a thousand reasons to be with the Congress-led UDF, while they can’t find one reason why they need to be with the Left, and this sums it all and reminds all about the sour grapes story,” added Satheesan.

The CPI(M), in its draft political resolution for the upcoming Party Congress, argues that even though there are neo-fascist tendencies, the Modi government cannot be called a fascist government

The party's Congress is scheduled to be held in Tamil Nadu's Madurai in the first week of April and before that, the draft political resolution is sent to all its state units. This document will be discussed at the Kerala CPI(M) state party conference in Kollam early next month.

CPI's Kerala Secretary Binoy Viswam has said that they have always said that PM Modi is led by the RSS and "it’s a fascist government". "The CPI(M) will have to change their stand on this issue," said Viswam.