KERALA Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that “if one chants Lord Ayyappan's name in Kerala, they will be put behind bars” is an utter lie. The prime minister is trying to mislead the country in the name of Sabarimala Temple. Modi must protect the dignity of the prime minister’s office. Canvassing support for LDF candidates for the Lok Sabha election in several areas in Kollam district, Vijayan said Modi is trying to insult the people of Kerala. He said that the model code of conduct should apply to the prime minister as well.

Those who involve in criminal activities will be arrested and legal procedure will be followed, the chief minister asserted. He said that no action is taken against Modi's followers when they flout laws in BJP-ruled states. Modi has saved even those who killed people in the garb of protecting cows. But that does not happen in Kerala. 

The Sangh Parivar tried to foment riots in Sabarimala. There were efforts to obstruct pilgrims who went to give offerings at the Lord Ayyappa temple. Criminals threw coconuts on the police as well as pilgrims. The government has taken stringent actions. The government is taking steps to make Sabarimala a noble pilgrimage centre. It was the central government that had given instructions to the state government to implement the Supreme Court judgement allowing entry of women of all ages to the shrine, he said.

Vijayan also laid bare a clandestine understanding between the Congress and the BJP in some parts of Kerala. UDF candidate in the Nemom assembly constituency has recently uncovered the fact that the Congress had made clandestine understanding with the BJP to ensure the victory of BJP candidate O Rajagopal. In the past few years, BJP had regularly come to rescue Congress whenever it was in danger. A Congress candidate recently came out with an advertisement in which he said that he would not go with the BJP after the election. Such a bad state the Congress had fallen into in Kerala, he said. 

In 2004, Kerala showed how to prevent the BJP from coming to power without letting the Congress decide. For the LDF, it won 18 of the 20 parliamentary seats. This time it will get more seats. The Congress and the BJP follow the same policies. When Narendra Modi came to replace Manmohan Singh, no change in policy matters has been seen. The distress of the people did not alleviate. The two parties implemented neoliberal policies. For a change for the better, a government which can offer alternative policies should be elected, Vijayan said, calling upon the people to vote for the Left.

Contrasting Faces of Gujarat Riots Advocate Harmony

Qutubuddin Ansari and Ashok Mochi are two contrasting faces of a horrifying genocide – the 2002 Gujarat riots. Mochi was a hunter and Ansari, the hunted. Two pictures that became the symbol of the carnage, one showed Ansari pleading and crying for mercy and another showed a man (Mochi) raging in vengeance with a sword.

After a long decade, Ashok Mochi confessed that he was a tool of Sangh Parivar, which incited dalits in Gujarat to take part in the carnage. The 2014 event attracted national attention.

Now, both Ansari and Mochi joined together to campaign for their friend and guide P Jayarajan. They reached CPI(M) candidate Jayarajan’s home at Thalasseri on the festival day of Vishu (April 15) and joined for traditional Kerala Sadya (feast) with Jayarajan and his comrades and relatives. They jointly cut a cake and appealed the people to give a thumping victory to Jayarajan. 

Jayarajan, the former CPI(M) Kannur district secretary and LDF candidate of Vadakara constituency, had organised a programme in Kannur, named Vamshahatyayude Vyazhavattam (Twelve Years of Genocide), in 2014. Ansari got refuge in West Bengal soon after the 2002 Gujarat riots. He was protected by the CPI(M).

Jayarajan himself is a survivor of RSS violence. On August 25, 1999, which was the festival day of Onam, a group of RSS workers barged into his house, threw bombs to create an air of terror and attacked Jayarajan and his wife with swords. Jayarajan survived the attack. He said that he keeps good relations with Mochi and Ansari as both are victims of communalism.