Parties like the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) should introspect their truck with the Congress in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said. Responding to the Congress’s accusation that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had orchestrated the attack on the office of Rahul Gandhi, MP, in Wayanad to appease the BJP, Mr. Vijayan said the Congress barefacedly pursued a soft Hindutva line.
"Rahul Gandhi toured temples in Gujarat. However, he found no time to visit Zakia Jafri, the wife of Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat," he said.
‘Congress silent’
Moreover, Congress refused to condemn the recent arrest of activist Teesta Setalvad who was Ms. Zakia's co-petitioner in the riot case against Prime Minister Modi and others. It did not utter a whimper of protest over the arrest of Keralite officer R. Sreekumar who earned the BJP's ire by raising uncomfortable questions about the Gujarat pogrom. "While the Congress washed its hands of both, the CPI(M) denounced the arrests," he said.
Mr. Vijayan later tweeted: “Strongly condemn the arrest of @TeestaSetalvad and RB Sreekumar who tirelessly fought to ensure justice for the victims of 2002 Gujarat pogrom. Secular and democratic forces in India will not bow down before these repressive measures of the Sangh Parivar politics.”
Mr. Vijayan said the Congress in Kerala did not want a national opposition to emerge against the BJP. The Congress and the BJP were conjoined twins in Kerala. Both had worked hand-in-glove and failed to foist false cases on the previous LDF administration. “The ED case against Mr. Gandhi had its provenance in a complaint filed by a BJP leader, and not the CPI(M),” he said.
The Congress realised belatedly that the accusation that the police had abetted the attack on Rahul's office rang hollow. Hence, it flinched from a debate on the matter. The administration had arrested the perpetrators and punished the officer who failed to prevent the attack. The Congress also shied away from the debate because a video footage had revealed that the MP's aides, and not the SFI as alleged, had destroyed Gandhi's portrait in the Kalpetta office.
"What Godse did in reality to Gandhi, Congress did symbolically in Wayanad," Mr. Vijayan said. He also accused Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan of showing intolerance to discomfiting questions from the media.
Satheesan’s response
Later, Mr. Satheesan responded in a press meet that the 2007 Manmohan Singh government had honoured Ms. Setalvad with Padmashri. Sonia Gandhi had backed Ms. Jafri and Mr. Sreekumar. He said the CPI(M) despatched journalists beholden to the party to disrupt the Opposition’s press conferences.
Mr. Vijayan had won with the BJP help in the 2021 Assembly elections, Mr. Satheesan said. The CPI(M) and the BJP were inseparable bedfellows. The BJP had scuttled the smuggling case to save Mr. Vijayan from prosecution in return for letting local BJP leaders off the hook in the ‘Kodakara hawala heist’ case.
