CPI(M)-UDF clash over Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s alleged gold smuggling comments against Malappuram residents

Chief Minister’s Office denies UDF’s accusation, stating Pinarayi Vijayan did not mention any particular region or people while dwelling on the huge amount of hawala cash and contraband gold confiscated by Kerala Police

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] squared off belligerently on Tuesday (October 1, 2024) over whether Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan allegedly sought to demonise Malappuram residents by dwelling on the significant number of contraband gold carriers interdicted by the State police outside the Karipur airport. 

The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) has denied the UDF’s accusation and stated that Mr. Vijayan did not mention any particular region or people while dwelling on the huge amount of hawala cash and contraband gold confiscated by the Kerala Police.

The CPI(M) believes the Opposition’s attack against the CMO was calibrated to diminish the party’s growing acceptance among minorities, especially given the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) government’s strident stance against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Waqf Amendment Bill (2024), abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the India Constitution, among other issues.

However, the CPI(M) protestations have not deterred the UDF from assailing the government.

Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) State general secretary P.M.A. Salam, Congress Working Committee member Ramesh Chennithala, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran and Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan slammed Mr. Vijayan for allegedly portraying Malappuram, a district with an overwhelming number of Muslims, as replete with economic offenders.

Mr. Salam accused Mr. Vijayan of playing to the Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) anti-minority rhetoric to save the latter and his family from Central investigations and also foster a communal divide for political dividends. 

Mr. Salam said Mr. Vijayan had “conveniently blamed” Malappuram because the Karipur airport was on Kozhikode’s border.

He said most of the gold carriers headed off by the police outside the airport were residents of Kannur district, a stronghold of the CPI(M). 

Mr. Chennithala said Mr. Vijayan had damned an entire minority community to spite the latter’s confidant-turned-bugbear and estranged Left Democratic Front (LDF) Independent legislator P.V. Anvar.

Mr. Satheesan dared Mr. Vijayan to provide proof that gold smugglers used their profit for anti-national activities. “If so, Mr. Vijayan is bound to tell the public what action the police have taken to break the alleged nexus”, he said.  

Mr. Sudhakaran said Mr. Vijayan’s office was neck-deep in gold smuggling, given the arrest of his “earlier second self” and former Principal Secretary M. Sivasankar and not the people of Malappuram, as the Chief Minister had irresponsibly imputed.

CPI(M) counters

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan sought to counter the UDF’s accusations. He said that the UDF had partnered with the “fundamentalist” Jamaat-e-Islami and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) to create disaffection in the minority community against the LDF government.

He said the leftward lurch of minorities had unnerved the UDF and its “fundamentalist” supporters.

UDF’s ‘sleeping partners’: Riyas

Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamad Riyas said Jamaat-e-Islami and the SDPI were UDF’s “sleeping partners”. He pointed out that Kerala’s first communist government, headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad, had formed Malappuram district.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has decided to counter Mr. Anvar’s campaign against the CMO.

CPI(M) polit bureau member A. Vijayaraghavan will soon hold the party’s show-of-strength rally in Malappuram and repeat the marshalling of party workers and fellow travellers across the State against the UDF’s forays against the CMO in the coming weeks.

Published - October 01, 2024 02:53 pm IST