Election campaign for the Lok Sabha poll to be held in Kerala reached a crescendo by Sunday, the last Sunday before the April 26 polling. Unemployment, poverty, farmers and fall in standards of education are out of e narratives as secularism, pluralism and safety of minorities are the hotly discussed topics in public rallies as well as street side meetings across the state.
The three glamour stars of the CPI(M), Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat (popularly known as the “available polit bureau”) are rocking the State with their claims that their political outfit is the most secular one in the world.
“Secularism which is better than our secularism could be seen only in dreams,” the trio speak in unison while blaming the Narendra Modi Government for destroying the secular fabric as well as pluralism of India.
“No force in this world could raise their fingers at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan or his family members. Vijayan is the best chief minister and administrator India has ever seen. His life is dedicated to serve the poor and downtrodden in the country. His name is synonymous with secularism of the highest order,” thundered Yechury while addressing rallies at Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
The CPI(M) general secretary also dared Modi, the BJP and the ED to arrest Pinarayi Vijayan against whom they have foisted many fake cases. “No scams have taken place in the cooperative banks of the State and no financial irregularities have come to the notice of the State government. What business the ED has got to do in Kerala?” asked Yechury.
He said the CPI(M)-led LDF would sweep the election in Kerala and emerge as a force that decides who would be the next Prime Minister of the country. Karat and his spouse repeated the same in the rallies they addressed.
The District Election Officer in Kozhikode suspended four more polling officials for violating the code of conduct while making senior citizens cast their votes. The polling officials have been selected from state government officials who are known for their commitment to the CPI(M).
Leaders of both the Congress and the CPI(M) are unanimous in their descriptin of BJP as communal and fascist force. But Pinarayi Vijayan, party’s Kerala secretary M v Govindan, the trio from Delhi and Congress leaders have issued 100 per cent marks to Muslim League, Welfare Party, SDPI, the banned PFI and the PDP as secular parties.
There are 20 seats at stake in Kerala. Chief Minister Vijayan has said that the secularism and pluralism practiced by his party is always ahead of the secularism of Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi whi le speaking to a Malayalam news channel said that the State’s highest political authority and his family are entangled in the gold smuggling case and also in the monthly pay-off to a private enterprise based in Bangalore. The Gold Smuggling scam has reached the doors of the Chief Minister’s Office and residence, pointed out Modi.
On Friday, the colorful Thrissur Pooram annual festival came to a sudden halt at the instance of CPI(M) and some Islamic outfits. Though no reason has been issued by the police to put the Pooram festival on hold, the connoisseurs like Nandakishore and R K Damodaran, well known poet, expressed apprehensions over the development and said that this is a prelude to things that may happen in the eventuality of the CPI(M) win.
