'Birds of the same feather': Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan likens Jamaat-e-Islami to Hindutva groups

Thiruvananthapuram: Continuing his attack against the Congress in Kerala for accepting Jamaat-e-Islami's support during elections, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that majority of the Muslims did not subscribe to the communal ideologies of Jamaat-e-Islami's which were similar to that of Hindutva outfits.

"Jamaat-e-Islami's communal ideologies are similar to that of the agenda of Hindutva outfits. Both are unacceptable. Majority of the Muslims in Kerala, who are the Sunnis and Muhajids, don't subscribe to the Jamaat-e-Islami's ideologies. It is suicidal that the Congress is making unholy alliance with them eyeing electoral benefits, even as Congress's coalition partner Indian Union Muslim League is unhappy over it," Vijayan told reporters in Kochi on Friday.

Vijayan's attack against the Jamaat-e-Islami's political wing Welfare Party of India's support to the Congress  came just ahead of the local body polls in  the state on December 9 and 11.

Further stepping up his point, the CPM top leader said that both Hindutva forces and political Islamists promote theocratic state. "Even as they appear to be different, both are birds of the same feather. Their approaches are similar to that of Hitler and Mussolini."

He also said that BJP minority morcha leader J K Jain was present during the formation of the Welfare Party of India in 2011. There was also a nexus between the Welfare Party and BJP to make a futile attempt to defeat CPM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami in the Jammu and Kashmir election, he said.

The Congress has been countering Vijayan's criticism by citing earlier instances of CPM taking the support of the Welfare Party of India.

Party to decide my role in next Assembly election 

Vijayan, who is a second-time Chief Minister, dismissed queries regarding his continuation for a third term.

Asked if he would be leading the Left Democratic Front in the next Assembly elections for a third term, Vijayan said that it was for the party to decide whether he should contest and who should lead. 'There is still time and there is no use of discussing it now," he said.