Congress tries to resist CPM's bid to cash in on CAA in Kerala

Congress leaders have accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of spreading a false narrative that the Congress national leadership was weak in its protest against CAA.

Thiruvananthapuram: With the aggressive resistance being put up by the ruling CPM in Kerala against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act even receiving support from Muslim leaders, the Congress is trying to resist it by accusing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of using CAA for communal polarisation aimed at political gains.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan of the Congress said that the BJP government at the Centre initiated the CAA with the intention of communal polarisation. Now Pinarayi Vijayan is also making use of CAA for communal polarisation to get advantage in elections, he accused.

Congress senior leader A K Antony said that once the I.N.D.I.A. bloc comes to power CAA would be withdrawn. The people should think about the consequences that the nation would face if the BJP comes to power again. India has being widely hailed by other nations in the past for its diversity and secularism, said Antony.

Referring to Pinarayi Vijayan's statement on Monday whether the Sangh Parivar would be ready to abandon slogans 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Jai Hind' that were first raised by Muslims, Kerala PCC acting president M M Hassan said that while the Congress fought the freedom fight with these slogans, the Communists were not there.

Congress leaders also accused Vijayan of spreading a false narrative that the Congress national leadership was weak in its protest against CAA.

Apart from openly stating that CAA will not be implemented in Kerala and moving court against it, the CPM-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala has been staging demonstrations against CAA. Mass demonstrations led by Pinarayi Vijayan were held at Muslim dominated north Kerala districts. Many Muslim community leaders also openly hailed Pinarayi Vijayan for the strong resistance against CAA.

These moves of CPM seem to have triggered serious concerns in the Congress camps that the left-front would make gains from the Muslim vote banks. There were also reports that the Indian Union Muslim League, which is the major coalition partner of the Congress in Kerala, is also quite concerned that the Congress was not aggressive enough in protesting against issues like CAA and Uniform Civil Code.