Damage control bid on anti-Malappuram remark causes further damage for Kerala CM Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: A damage control bid by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over his remark against the Muslim dominated Malappuram district of Kerala has caused further embarrassment to him for having engaged public relations agency - an allegation that Vijayan earlier strongly denied.

According to an interview of Vijayan published in a national daily on Monday, Vijayan had said that gold smuggling and hawala money transaction were high through the Karipur airport in Malappuram and the money from gold smuggling and hawala transactions were being used for "anti-state" and "anti-national activities".

Congress, Indian Union Muslim League and various Muslim outfits strongly reacted to it by alleging that Vijayan, who is a CPM politburo member, was trying to please the BJP and Sangh Parivar outfits that often try to frame the Muslim dominated district in bad light.

Subsequently, the Chief Minister disowned the remark on Tuesday. Chief Minister's press secretary sent a letter to the daily's editor on Tuesday stating that certain statements were wrongly attributed to the Chief Minister in the interview that was published on Monday.

The daily later published a clarification on its online edition that the interview was offered by a public relations agency and the controversial portions were included as requested by the PR agency representatives, who were also present during the interview, and tendered apology for it.

Later addressing a public function at Kozhikode in the evening, Vijayan said that he did not say anything against Malappuram in the interview, but only stated the facts regarding the smuggling. The "secular minded" people of Malappuram will reject attempts by opposition parties to unleash a misleading communal campaign. The daily had clarified that it had included some remarks which he did not say in the interview, he said.

The daily's clarification on PR agency's involvement in the interview caused much embarrassment to Vijayan as he had earlier strongly denied allegations of using the service of professional public relations agencies for boosting his image ahead of the last Assembly election, especially during Covid-19 outbreak. But Vijayan had then strongly rejected it by stating that he did not want the service of any PR agency to interact with people.

Vijayan had been highlighting the increasing gold smuggling and hawala transactions through Malappuram at recent press conferences in order to counter dissident left-front MLA P V Anvar's allegation that police was looting gold seized from smugglers at Karipur airport in Malappuram.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan asked what action did the Chief Minister take against the use of money from gold smuggling and hawala transactions for 'anti-national' acts.

Vijayan's remarks against Malappuram had also not gone down well with the CPM's coalition partners in Kerala.