LDF govt wants communal tensions to worsen in Kerala, claims LoP

PTI, Sep 23, 2021, 7:14 PM IST

Thiruvananthapuram: The LDF government led by Pinarayi Vijayan remained silent for 14 days over the controversial ”love and narcotic jihad” remarks by a Catholic Bishop and is refusing to call an all-party meet to discuss it, as it wants communal tensions to worsen in Kerala, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan claimed on Thursday.

Satheesan said what the CM said on Wednesday and prior to that regarding the Pala Bishop”s remarks, was contrary to the stand taken by state Cooperation Minister V N Vasavan, after he met the Bishop, and A Vijayaraghavan, the Secretary of CPI(M) Kerala State Committee.

The CM had on Tuesday rejected outright the comments made by the Bishop, saying the southern state is a firm terrain of secularism and the society would take strong stand against those who try to upset it.

He had also stated that the growing trend of equating social evils with some sections of society needs to be “nipped in the bud” as not doing so will only exacerbate the communal differences in the society.

On Wednesday, the CM had termed attribution of crimes related to narcotics to a particular religion as ”wrong.”

Speaking to reporters after a UDF meet, Satheesan alleged that the LDF government”s stand was somewhat akin to that of the sangh parivar which wanted a conflict between two communities in the state.

He further said that one of the reasons for the differences between the various communities in the state was the LDF government”s ”social engineering program” which was aimed at weakening the UDF.

He also said that the state government was repeatedly saying it was going to investigate into the alleged existence of fake social media accounts, but till now has not stated what steps have been taken to identify such accounts.

“Therefore, these problems need to be resolved as soon as possible,” he added.