‘Fought single-handedly': Kerala CM defends CPI-M leader after remarks on Emergency sparks row
Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary M V Govindan's remarks about the outfit joining hands with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh during the Emergency has put the ruling party on the back foot a day before by-election in Nilambur assembly seat, prompting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to defend the statement.
Nilambur will vote Thursday.
Referring to Govindan's remarks, Vijayan said that 'the CPI (M) had fought against the Emergency single-handedly'. This comes after the Congress claimed Govindan's statement was 'a passionate appeal to its one-time friend RSS seeking its help in the by-election. The Opposition party stepped up its campaign that 'unholy nexus between CPI(M) and BJP' exists in the bypoll.
Addressing the media Wednesday evening, Vijayan said: 'There was no relation of any sort between the CPI(M) and RSS during the Emergency. When political parties which fought against the Emergency, formed Janata Party as a larger alliance, Jan Sangh (political wing of RSS till 1977) also merged in that party. However, the CPI(M) had not merged into the Janata Party. The CPI(M) had fought on its own against the Emergency'.
In a TV interview Tuesday, Govindan said: 'RSS is communal…during the Emergency we had joined hands with them. It is a reality. We are not afraid of telling the truth'.
On Wednesday, a day after the remark kicked up a storm, Govindan issued a clarification saying that he had spoken of a situation 'when the entire country stood together against Emergency'. 'Various political streams move together to oppose the Emergency. CPI(M) had never entered into an alliance with RSS,' he said.
But the remarks gave ammunition to the Congress, which called it a last-minute attempt to woo Bharatiya Janata Party's votes in Nilambur. While the BJP has handpicked Mohan George, a local Christian leader and a former leader of regional Christina party Kerala Congress, as the National Democratic Alliance candidate in Nilambur, Akhil Bharat Hindu Maha Sabha has declared its support for CPI(M) candidate M Swaraj.
To win back the Hindu votes, the CPI(M) has been highlighting Jamaat-e-Islami's support for Congress candidate Aryadan Shoukath.
In his remarks, the Congress-led Opposition Leader V D Satheesan claimed the CPI(M) 'was trying to create Islamophobia'.
'This appeal on the eve of voting is meant to get Sangh Parivar votes. The CPI(M)-BJP affair is evident in the by-election. BJP had been reluctant to field a candidate. CPI(M) has no right to question Jamaat-e-Islami support for Congress. Govindan himself had won elections in the past with Jamaat-e-Islami support,' he said.
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