Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan.
Credit: PTI Photo
Palakkad (Ker): The BJP on Tuesday demanded the registration of a sedition case against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over his recent speeches on the Citizenship Amendment Act, alleging they aimed to instill insecurity in the Muslim community and create "extreme religious blindness" among them.
Senior BJP leader P K Krishnadas accused the Marxist veteran of trying to create division in society and promote enmity among religious groups through his speeches against the CAA, implemented by the Centre.
The recent speeches made by Vijayan on the topic were in violation of constitutional norms and the oath of office, and thus he lost the legal right to continue in the office, he claimed.
Referring to the statements made by Vijayan during the anti-CAA rally in Malappuram on Monday, the BJP leader said these were the arguments made by Mohammed Ali Jinnah while demanding two nations decades ago.
"The CM said that Muslims were second-grade citizens in the country, and the Union government, the BJP, and the RSS were trying to drive them away into Pakistan by suspending their citizenship," Krishnadas said.
His words were a reflection of the ideology of Jinnah, who had also said that Muslims were second-grade citizens and insecure in India, and so there should be a separate nation for them.
"Vijayan was reiterating what Jinnah had said...His words were anti-national. So, a case of sedition should be registered against him," he said.
He also accused Vijayan of paving the way for a "religious riot" by creating division between Muslims and Christian and Hindu communities.
"Vijayan's speeches aimed to instill insecurity in the Muslim community and create "extreme religious blindness" among them," he further alleged.
The BJP leader also rubbished Vijayan's statement in Malappuram that the BJP and RSS might not know that the slogans like "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Jai Hind" were first raised by two Muslims and would they abandon them as they were coined by those belonging to the minority community.
Seeking to counter Vijayan, Krishnadas asked whether he and the other Left leaders would be ready to raise the slogans as they were coined by Muslims.
He also claimed that the CAA has nothing to do with the 18 crore Muslims in the country.
The saffron party's scathing attack against the Chief Minister came in the wake of the Left veteran recently addressing four consecutive rallies organised by the CPI(M) in the northern part of Kerala against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
During the rallies, Vijayan had attacked the BJP-led Union government over the implementation of the CAA and accused it of attempting to give citizenship on the basis of religion.
Reaching out to the minority community in Muslim-dominated Malappuram district on Monday, the veteran CPI(M) leader said Muslim rulers, cultural icons and officials had played a significant role in the country's history and independence movement.
He said Sangh Parivar leaders and activists advocating the extradition of Muslims from India to Pakistan ought to be acquainted with this historical context.
Along with others, Muslims also played a crucial role in the country's freedom movement, the chief minister pointed out.
While talking about the Citizenship Amendment Act, Vijayan alleged that the RSS-led BJP government at the Centre is trying to turn Muslims into second-grade citizens in the country through the implementation of the CAA.
The real objective of CAA is to make the citizenship of migrated Muslim refugees illegal, the CM had alleged at the rally.