Blast In Kerala Triggers Communal Polarisation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after the blasts targeting a Christian sect’s convention near Kochi, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused Union minister of state Rajeev Chandrashekhar of spewing not just poison but deadly poison with the objective of tarnishing the secular fabric of the state.

The Chief Minister and the Union MoS traded verbal blows on Monday with the BJP leader calling the Chief Minister a “liar” and Vijayan lashing out by terming the minister “extremely venomous”.

The verbal duel followed the Chief Minister’s severe criticism of a social media post by Chandrasekhar on X, formerly Twitter, in which the Union minister seemed to place the blame on a particular community for the blasts on Sunday near Kochi that killed three persons and injured over 50 others.

At a press conference in Kochi after visiting those injured in the blast in local hospitals, the Chief Minister said Rajeev Chandrashekhar and his party colleagues were deliberately targeting a particular community with the objective of triggering communal polarisation in the state.

Vijayan said the statement made by the Union minister did not behove the responsible position he held. On Sunday, after reports of the blasts came out, Chandrasekhar had posted on X: “Dirty shameless appeasement politics by a discredited CM (and HM) @pinarayivijayan besieged by corruption charges. Sitting in Delhi and protesting against Israel, when in Kerala open calls by Terrorist Hamas for Jihad is causing attacks and bomb blasts on innocent Christians.”

Criticising Chandrasekhar’s post, Vijayan at a press conference in the evening said the statements by the BJP leader were a reflection of his “absolute communal outlook”.

Hitting back at the CM for his remarks, the Union minister on Monday accused Vijayan of being a “liar” and using terms like “communal” and “communalism” to “hide his ineptness as home minister of the state” and “cover up his own and his government’s corruption and appeasement politics that he has copied from the Congress”.

Speaking to reporters in Kochi on Monday afternoon, he further alleged that Kerala under Vijayan has shown tolerance towards radical elements and radicalisation. Chandrasekhar said he did not mention any community in his post on X, and sought to turn the attack back against the

CM for calling him communal, saying: “I had talked about Hamas and it was almost like the CM was trying to equate Hamas with the broader Muslim brothers and sisters of our state and country.”