Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday vowed to “mercilessly suppress” what he described as the attempt by the BJP and RSS to foment communal trouble in Kerala.
In a strongly worded public post on his Facebook account, Mr. Vijayan said the well-rehearsed trick of the Sangh Parivar to reap political dividend by causing a schism between communities in the name of religion would not work in Kerala.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government would not cower in fear in front of any threat, he said.
The CM’s comment came close on the heels of the reported “threat” by Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Irani, that the Kerala government would face dire “constitutional consequences” if it pursued its “anti-faith” agenda in Sabarimala.
Some quarters also construed the CM's comment as a riposte to Nair Service Society (NSS) general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair, who had blamed the government earlier in the day for “unleashing anarchy” in Kerala by mishandling the Sabarimala controversy.
The CM said that the government had implemented the Supreme Court verdict which said men and women had equal rights when it came to matters of faith. The government had met its constitutional obligation.
The forces that threatened the Kerala government with dire consequences for upholding the law were those that were inimical to the constitution and the rule of law, he said.
He blamed the RSS and BJP for the violence in Kerala. They had conspired to illegally upend the implementation of the SC order to sow chaos in the State. Their ploys would fail. The Kerala police had no political colour and had prosecuted persons responsible for the rioting, irrespective of their party affiliations, he said.