Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has refuted the Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML) purported campaign in Malappuram that the highest number of police cases were registered in a year in the district.
“The IUML is alleging that the Left Democratic Front government is singling out Malappuram district and defaming it. It is completely baseless to say that the police have registered the highest number of cases there. There were no official records to prove the claim. On the contrary, the district was on the list of those with less number of crimes,” he said on Saturday. Mr. Vijayan was delivering a speech while releasing Keralam, Muslim Rashtreeyam, Rashtreeya Islam (Kerala, Muslim Politics and Political Islam), a book authored by P. Jayarajan, State committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
“The IUML is trying to mislead the people with ulterior political motives. A total of 42,676 first information reports (FIR) were registered in Malappuram in 2023. The corresponding figures for Ernakulam City and Ernakulam Rural police districts are 70,874 and 37,689, respectively. In Thiruvananthapuram district too, over a lakh FIRs were registered in that year,” he said. The Chief Minister accused the IUML of defaming Malappuram district. “Even calculating the population to cases ratio, there is nothing unusual in Malappuram. The district fares better compared with others actually. The ratio for Thiruvananthapuram in 2023 is 31.51%, it is just 10.35% in Malappuram,” he said.
The Chief Minister also accused the IUML of spreading the claim that this year’s Thrissur Pooram festivities were messed up. “Did any lapse related to rituals occur? The fireworks were delayed a bit. Can it be called disruption of the pooram? The IUML is much ahead of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in spreading such propaganda,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Vijayan said that he did not endorse all the views in Mr. Jayarajan’s book as he had not gone through it fully. “Different authors may have different views on various issues. It is not mandatory that only those who agree with them shall release a book. Our public sphere has the space for differing views, which should be protected,” he said. Mr. Vijayan said that when it came to reflecting the CPI(M)’s views, they were on the same page, but personal observations may be different. The Chief Minister’s comments come against the backdrop of certain remarks in Mr. Jayarajan’s book accusing People’s Democratic Party founder Abdul Nasir Maudany of radicalising a section of Kerala Muslims after the Babri Masjid demolition.
Published - October 26, 2024 07:57 pm IST
