Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday slammed the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for “using” Koran as the centrepiece of their antagonistic politics against the LDF government.
He said trifling with the revered text for politicking had triggered a groundswell off opposition against the League and the Congress leadership. The outrage was universal. It was not limited to any particular community. The public was indignant that the United Democratic Front (UDF) leadership had jested with an article of faith for unseemly politicking.
He said IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty, UDF convener Benny Behanan, and Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala had dragged Koran into the centre of the gold smuggling controversy. They insensitively used the holy text as a political tool to berate the government. The BJP and the RSS had traditionally opposed the acceptance and distribution of Koran. It was puzzling why the League and Congress had joined hands with the Sangh Parivar.
Minister for Minority Welfare and Waqf K.T. Jaleel had accepted Koran and food kits at the behest of the UAE and distributed the items to needy families during Ramzan. Islam reckoned the gifting of Koran and food as an act of faith, goodwill and brotherhood. The Congress-League-BJP alliance had sought to disparage the religious and cultural transaction as a gold smuggling operation merely to spite the government and Dr. Jaleel.
Mr Vijayan said the UDF had belatedly realised their mistake. Public outrage had prompted them to backtrack. The UDF leaders had now declared that they would not bandy about Koran callously and for political reasons. Ideally, they should apologise to the public.
Mr Vijayan said Central agencies should bring UAE consulate officials under the ambit of their investigation. “The public has serious doubts about why the agencies have not recorded their statements so far or questioned them”, he said.