Kerala BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan today hit out at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for criticising RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat's statement that in the Left-ruled Kerala "jihadi and anti-national" forces were at work.
A day after Vijayan lashed out at RSS chief, saying that Keralites did not need any advice on nationalism from those who had turned their back towards the freedom struggle and served the colonial rulers, Rajasekharan said "there are several instances of both the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF promoting anti-national forces for narrow political ends.
"Pinarayi Vijayan's reaction to RSS chief's statement that Kerala Government was helping anti-national forces for political gains, had risen out of the Chief Minister's guilty feeling", he said, a day ahead of the BJP's 15-day janaraksha yatra to be launched by its chief Amit Shah here.
The BJP is taking out the state-wide foot march, to be led by Rajasekharan, to expose the alleged 'red terrorism' unleashed by the Marxist party against its workers.
The BJP leader said if Vijayan was sincere in his concern for the self esteem and security of Malayalees as he claims, he should initiate stern action against anti-national forces.
"I can understand your embarrassment when a leader from outside the state points out that It is the irresponsible and indifferent attitude of those who rule Kerala including yourself that made the state a safe haven for terrorists" Rajasekharan said in a statement, ahead of BJP chief Amit Shah's campaign against political violence in the state.
He alleged that there were several instances of both the LDF and the UDF promoting anti-national forces for narrow political ends.
Vijayan must not have forgotten that terrorists with international links were caught from Kanakamala in Kannur, the Chief Minister's home district.
Vijayan, inaugurating the 2017-19 Delhi Union of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists, yesterday had said that the RSS considered religious minorities as an "internal threat" to the country.
He had also said that the RSS chiefs allegation that the state government was supporting anti-national elements was a challenge to each Keralite and to Kerala society as a whole.
Bhagwat, at a Vijayadashmi celebration in Nagpur had said that in the Left-ruled Kerala and the Mamata Banerjee-ruled West Bengal "jihadi and anti-national" forces were at work and the governments there were not only indifferent but at times lending a helping hand to them to "appease" a section of the voters for "petty political interests".
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)