KOZHIKODE: A statement purportedly misattributed to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan about smuggled gold and hawala money entering the state’s predominantly Muslim Malappuram district for “anti-national” activities snowballed on Wednesday into a full-blown political slugfest, with Congress alleging that narratives usually spun by the Sangh Parivar were now coming out of the Left’s mouth.
Vijayan’s clarification on the context of his remarks about gold smuggling, published as part of a recent interview to an English newspaper, did little to stem the barrage of criticism coming his way. Indian Union Muslim League national general secretary and legislator P K Kunhalikutty termed it a “deliberate” act to malign Malappuram.
Congress MLA and leader of the opposition V D Satheesan demanded to know if the LDF govt would sue the PR agency linked to the interview if the CM was indeed misquoted. Youth Congress filed a police complaint alleging “incitement of hatred and violence” over the controversy.
Governor Arif M Khan said he would write to the CM, seeking an explanation for keeping his office in the dark about gold smuggling and hawala money seized in Malappuram being used to wage war against the state.
The controversial interview quoted Vijayan as saying that 150kg of smuggled gold and hawala money totalling Rs 123 crore meant for “anti-state” and “anti-national” activities had been confiscated over the past five years in the district, where over 68% of the population is Muslim.
CM Vijayan clarified on Tuesday that he did not make any remark blaming any particular district or religious community. He said at an event that the only occasion he spoke about this was at a presser, mentioning gold seizures at Karipur airport, which is in Malappuram.
“It is a fact that 123.9kg of gold was seized in 156 instances at Karipur airport, constituting the majority of gold seized in the state. Additionally, Rs 87 crore out of the Rs 122 crore in hawala money confiscated in the state was in Malappuram,” he said, flaying alleged attempts by some quarters to paint CPM as “communal”.
“I have had to give out all these details as attempts are part of an agenda to create misunderstanding among people and divide them along religious lines. Such efforts won’t succeed.”
The CM also hit out at Nilambur MLA PV Anvar, who recently quit LDF after levelling a litany of allegations against the CM. He accused Anvar of acting with an agenda and people of the state would realise the heinous attempts being made to inject religious hatred by creating misunderstanding.
“The very section that he thinks would come to his side through such efforts would be the first to disown him. One should not think that they can rent out their tongue just because some communal forces are behind them, and they can portray CPM and its leaders as communal. That is wishful thinking,” Vijayan added.
Alluding to Anvar’s allegations against police officers on gold seizures made outside Karipur airport, Vijayan asked why some people were feeling the heat when gold smugglers and hawala operatives were being nabbed.
“Can anybody say that gold smuggling and hawala operations are patriotic acts and police should turn a blind eye to them? Police are acting on powers entrusted to them. I am not responding to issues raised recently with a special agenda, but we realise it is aimed at destroying the mechanism we have. It is easy to find out for whom this is being done and who is behind it,” he said.
Vijayan said CPM was not a party that took decisions based on someone’s street rants and disparaging remarks. “The party won’t approve anything that is wrong, and no one should think that the party can be dragged into wrongdoings,” he said. The CM, however, said the govt had taken the MLA’s allegations seriously and directed the state police chief to look into them.
“We have said that actions will be taken once the investigation is completed. But he (Anvar) came out with a different agenda,” he added.