‘Look at the list of winners…’: Kerala minister Saji Cherian’s remarks on Muslim League met with backlash

After his remarks became controversial, Cherian, who had once quit the Cabinet over alleged anti-Constitution remarks, said his stance is that the Left has to strengthen to fight the RSS.

“In the 39-strong Kasaragod municipality, CPI(M) got only one seat; Congress got two. The BJP, which promoted communalism, got 12 seats, and the IUML got 22. I wanted to read out their names. I wanted this situation not to happen elsewhere in Kerala,” he said.

However, the minister’s remarks came amid allegations by Opposition parties that the CPI(M) was making attempts at communal polarisation ahead of the Assembly elections.

On Monday, IUML state president Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said Cherian should learn about his own party, “which stands for secularism”. “We have the courage to seek votes while maintaining communal harmony. Those who do not have that courage are behind this agenda of polarisation,” Thangal said.

Opposition Leader V D Satheesan of the Congress said the CPI(M) was going along the same path as the Sangh Parivar, and accused it of trying to make political gains by dividing people.

“Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is supporting that. Cherian and [former minister A K] Balan had made the statements with the consent of the Chief Minister. How can CPI(M) claim to be different from the Sangh Parivar?” he asked.

He referred to a statement by CPI(M) leader and former minister A K Balan, who had said days earlier that if the Congress-led alliance, UDF, came to power, the Jamaat-e-Islami would be handling the Home Department.

In fact, the Jamaat-e-Islami had supported the CPI(M)-led LDF for decades until 2019, when the organisation decided to back the Congress at the national level. In 2015, the CPI(M) had even ruled a few local bodies with the support of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s political wing, Welfare Party of India. In 2023, the CPI(M) had also openly wooed the IUML and said the party had a secular outlook.

The recent comments of the CPI(M) leaders also came amid remarks criticised as communal by the leader of the backward Hindu Ezhava group, SNDP, who is considered to be close to the Left party.

SNDP leader Vellappally Natesan had said on Saturday that a UDF win in the Kerala Assembly elections would mean that the IUML will rule the state.