Kerala CM blames Oppn parties for dragging Quran into controversy

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said it was not the left front which had sought to drag the Holy Quran into a controversy, but the opposition parties, including the Indian Union Muslim League, an ally of the Congress-led UDF. "It was not the LDF which was responsible for drawing the Quran into a controversy. The left front did not say anything about the religious text.

It was the opposition leaders and leaders of the Leaguewho had wrongly spoken about the holy text.The LDF had only brought the facts into the public domain," Vijayan told reporters here.

The CPI(M) had earlier described the protests by the opposition -UDF and BJP against minister K T Jaleel as being against the Holy text. The chief minister claimed even the league leaders had come out against the Quran, which their followers will not accept. It was the League which had alleged that gold was smuggled under the pretext of bringing the Holy book,he said.

It cannot be said that the religious text was smuggled in. Customs had cleared it and it was brought to the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram after which it was distributed, Vijayan said, adding, it was brought in proper manner.

The import of the Holy text was not a "big crime". The Consulate officials had approached Jaleel for distribution of the Quran, and he had obliged, Vijayan said.

The investigation in the gold smuggling case was going in the right direction and the heartbeats of some have increased and it would go up further,the chief minister said.

The investigators should go after the gold smuggling case and the Quran controversy was an attempt to deflect the case, he claimed.

Meanwhile, the UDF today decided to further intensify its agitation against the LDF government demanding Jaleel's resignation.

Attacking the chief minister, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala said if the truth in the gold smuggling case has to come out, Vijayan should be questioned as according to him the minister had no role in the case. The opposition parties have been staging protests against the minister who had been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate and NIA recently. While the minister was questioned by the ED in connection with the alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in accepting consignments of Holy Quran and about 18,000 kg of dates brought from the UAE through diplomatic channels, his statement was recorded by the National Investigation Agency probing the terror link in the gold smuggling case.