Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday launched a strong attack on Jamaat e Islami and said the group and Hindutva organisations are “birds of the same feather.” He also accused the Congress of forming what he called a dangerous partnership with the Muslim organisation for election gains, describing the move as “suicidal.”
Speaking at a Meet the Press event in the Ernakulam Press Club, Vijayan said Jamaat e Islami was not a traditional organisation in Kerala but still interfered in many issues in the state. He said Kerala’s Muslim community consists of Sunnis, Mujahids and other groups, and claimed that most of them do not recognise Jamaat e Islami. “UDF voters will not accept their ideology,” he said, adding that the Congress had entered into an “unholy alliance” only for votes.
The chief minister said that both political Islamists and Hindutva forces promote a form of nationalism built on religion and want governance controlled by religious beliefs. He compared this thinking to that of Mussolini and Hitler. He referred to the writings of Abul A’la Maududi and claimed that Jamaat e Islami had created divisions among Muslims in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. “In India, political Islamists and Hindutva ideologues are birds of the same feather. Even if they appear to oppose each other, they have explored cooperation,” he said.
Vijayan also repeated an old claim that during the launch of the Welfare Party of India in 2011, which was formed by Jamaat e Islami, the only person present who was not part of the organisation was a BJP Minority Morcha leader. He further referred to reports that the group had held discussions with the RSS in 2023.
The chief minister cited the Jammu and Kashmir elections as an example of what he alleged was a link between the BJP and Jamaat e Islami. He said he believed both sides worked together to try to defeat CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who eventually won. He also said many supporters of the Indian Union Muslim League are unhappy with the UDF’s attempts to please both Jamaat e Islami and the BJP. “They are trying to pawn the peace and secularism of the state,” he said.
On governance issues, Vijayan said that Kerala’s public distribution system had been strengthened over the past nine and a half years, with more than ten thousand crore rupees spent on it. He said some rice mill owners were refusing to cooperate with paddy procurement and announced a pilot project in Palakkad involving cooperative groups under the supervision of the Civil Supplies Corporation.
Vijayan said decentralisation of power was the foundation of Kerala’s development successes. He added that funds had been given to local bodies with a clear development plan and that their work had helped Kerala declare itself free from extreme poverty on November one. He said the national situation made it important to protect secularism and the federal structure of the country.
He said the Left parties and the LDF were committed to defending secular values. “Our state has its own speciality in this respect and other states have recognised it,” he said, urging people to support these values in the upcoming elections.
The chief minister also spoke about the development of Kochi, saying that the city had undergone major changes. He highlighted projects such as the Kochi Metro and Water Metro and said other states and even foreign countries had shown interest in adopting similar Water Metro systems. He listed initiatives in the city including the Samrudhi hunger eradication programme, housing projects for families living in colonies, Operation Breakthrough to reduce waterlogging, work to modernise the Ernakulam Market and improvements in the cultural sector.
