Flex board outside temple dubbing CM Vijayan as 'God of Kerala' sparks row

The CPM has found itself in a soup over a flex board outside a temple in Malappuram hailing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as the 'God of Kerala;'

According to media reports, the flex board located outside the entrance of the Pachiri Maha Vishnu temple in the northern city's Valanchery area has a large portrait of Vijayan reading: "You asked who is God. The people said one who provides food."

Temple authorities believe that the board was set up in May ahead of the second LDF government's swearing-in following their victory in the April 6 polls. However, local party leaders have denied their role in the controversy, the Times of India reported.

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Another board adjacent to the aforementioned, with an image of Vijayan and also his cabinet says that prominent temples in the state — Padanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Swami Ayyappan temple in Sabarimala and temples in Guruvayur and Kodungallur) have all 'turned red,' suggesting that the Gods were communists.

Raveendran M, the temple's president told TOI that the second board (saying that the temples have turned red) sparked protests as calls to burn it down grew wide. It was subsequently taken down, while the other board was shifted 20m away from the temple arch.