Union Minister of State for Electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday hit back at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s allegations that the BJP was spreading communal poison. Chandrasekhar said that to “accuse him of being communal is to be a liar”.
“To accuse me of being communal, or to accuse our party of doing anything other than looking after the best interest of every Indian, is to be a liar. He (Pinarayi Vijayan) is a liar…If not having links with the SDPI, PFI and Hamas is the qualification for being called communal, I am proud to say that nobody in BJP has any linkages with SDPI, PFI and Hamas,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar said while speaking at a press briefing in Kochi.
He further alleged that under CM Vijayan’s regime, the state has shown increased tolerance towards radical elements.
“Under CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala has shown increasing tolerance towards radical elements and radicalization. Whether it is the Kozhikode attempt to burn a train which would have caused, if he had succeeded over 200-300 deaths and the characterization of that person as being mentally ill till it was revealed that he was an ISIS sympathizer, and that was a deliberate attempt at terrorism. There is a history of appeasement of radical elements by both the Congress and the Left in Kerala,” Chandrasekhar added.
MoS Chandrasekhar earlier today visited the injured, in the blasts at the Jehowah Witness convention, who are undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College, Kalamassery.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday slammed Rajeev Chandrasekhar for his “appeasement politics” remarks after multiple explosions took place at a prayer meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Kalamassery area of Kochi at around 9:00 am.
“Those who’re poisonous will keep spitting poison…one of the Union Minister made a statement that I am doing appeasement politics and protesting against Israel…he is a minister and he should give some minimum respect to the investigating agencies, the probe is underway…in such a serious incident, at such an early stage, they are making such statements targeting a few set of people,” Kerala CM said.
He further said the Minister’s statement is based on their communal agenda but Kerala doesn’t have such an agenda, Kerala always stood against communalism.
On Sunday, Rajeev Chandrasekhar had criticised the Kerala CM for staging pro-Palestine protests on a day when there had been a blast in his state.
“Dirty shameless appeasement politics by a discredited CM (and HM) @pinarayivijayan besieged by corruption charges Sitting in Delhi and protesting against Israel, when in Kerala open calls by Terrorist Hamas for Jihad is causing attacks and bomb blasts on innocent Christians,” Chandrasekhar posted on X.
Meanwhile, an all-party meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was held in Thiruvananthapuram today in the wake of the blasts.
The meeting unanimously resolved to urge people not to indulge in baseless accusations, speculative campaigns and rumour-mongering in the wake of the blasts, a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.
The meeting convened in the State Secretariat this morning saw participation by Congress leader VT Belram, NCP leader PC Chacko, JDS leader Mathew T Thomas, Kerala Congress leader Monce Joseph, CPI leader P Sudheer, BJP leader C Krishna Kumar and ministers’ K Rajan, Roshi Augustin, Antony Raju, A K Sasindran, Kadannapally Ramachandran and CPI (M) state secretary M V Govindan.
“This meeting makes it clear that Kerala is of one mind in this regard and that peace, communal harmony and secular harmony beyond differences will be strengthened at all levels,” the all-party resolution read.
Earlier, Kerala Health Minister Veena George visited the injured earlier today at the Kalamassery Government Medical College Hospital and said that 17 people are battling burn injuries in yesterday’s explosion with 12 of them in intensive care units.
The death toll in the multiple blasts at the Zamra International Convention and Exhibition Centre rose to three after a 12-year-old girl identified as Libina from Malayattoor succumbed to her injuries in the early hours today.
A man identified as Dominic Martin posted a video on Facebook claiming responsibility for the attacks. He later surrendered at the Kodakara police station in Thrissur. The police, however, said that they have yet to verify Martin’s claims.
According to the police, preliminary investigation suggests that IEDs (improvised Explosive Devices) were used to trigger the blasts.
Following the incidents, Chief Minister Vijayan announced a 20-member probe team to investigate the matter. (ANI)
