Kerala CM accuses BJP-led Centre of endangering Indian secularism; attacks Congress for being silent

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday gave a push to the LDF's Lok Sabha poll campaign by attacking the BJP-led Centre, accusing it of endangering the secular and democratic nature of India.

The CM also hit out against the Congress-led UDF, which had won 19 of the 20 LS seats from the state in the 2019 polls, saying that its MPs were unable to raise the voice and views of Kerala in the Parliament and acted as mute spectators to the Centre's allegedly restrictive financial stand towards the southern state.

Attacking the BJP, Vijayan alleged that as a result of the repeated moves by the central government to endanger secularism in the country, a large section of people, who have been living in India for decades, are concerned whether they can continue to live in this nation.

"Crores of people are living in fear and apprehension in the country," he claimed.

The steps being taken by the union government have also adversely affected India's image, of being a democratic and secular nation, before the world community.

"Organisations like the UN and Amnesty International as well as countries like the US and Germany are criticising certain recent developments in India and questioning whether democratic ways are being followed here," the Marxist veteran said.

Many countries and world organisations have recently criticised India over the implementation of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as well as the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a liquor policy scam case.

Vijayan also flayed the economic policies of the Centre, alleging that it has led to India falling from 55 to 107th position in the world with regard to prosperity and claimed "India is a poor nation in the eyes of the world".

"The reason for this is the government policies which are not for the benefit of the people, but for making the rich even more richer. While India has the most number of poor in the world, Kerala has the least number of poor in the country. This is because the state government is working for the people," he contended.

To hinder the Kerala government's public welfare measures, the Centre was trying to financially choke it by reducing its share in the tax allocations and cutting down the state's borrowing limits, Vijayan alleged.

He referred to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman's recent statement that the economic situation in Kerala was very poor and the state was surviving by taking huge debts.

Sitharaman had also said that the financial distress in Kerala was due to the poor governance of the state due to successive LDF and UDF governments ruling the state over the years.

Vijayan said that of every one rupee spent in Kerala, 75 per cent is by the state government and 25 per cent by the Centre and this will change to 81 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, in future.

He also claimed that while the southern Indian states contribute 35 per cent of the country's GDP and comprise 18 per cent of the nation's population, the region gets less than 15 per cent of the central tax share.

But the Congress was turning a blind eye to all this and was only interested in criticising the state government, he claimed.

He also alleged that the grand old party takes a stand which helps the BJP by not questioning the Centre's policies.

"So, in effect it turns into support for the BJP," he added.

Vijayan also raised the electoral bond issue and contended that while the BJP benefited the most from it, the Congress too managed to rake in over Rs 1,000 crore.

"They both have the same stand. The Left front was the only one which had right from the start opposed the electoral bonds," he said.

Alleging that the BJP was endangering secularism, democracy and freedom in our country, the Marxist veteran said they should be defeated.

"That is the mindset of the people across the country. The BJP and the Centre believe they cannot be defeated. They had this outlook in 2004 under the leadership of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But the people realised that it would be dangerous if they came back to power and defeated them," he recalled.

Vijayan asserted that the BJP has no chances of winning in Kerala no matter what strategy they adopt as the people of the state cannot accept their policies and ideology.

He urged the people to vote for the LDF candidate from Thiruvananthapuram LS constituency -- Pannian Raveendran.