Kodiyeri Balakrishnan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior BJP leaders from Kerala have come out against CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan ’s statement that the Indian Air Force strike on terror camps in Pakistan was part of prime minister Narendra Modi ’s attempts to manipulate the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said that Kodiyeri’s statement was anti-national. “CPM is trying to whip up communal feelings. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan should clarify on the statement made by his party secretary. Kodiyeri should tender an unconditional public apology for the condemnable statement. If he refuses to do so, action should be taken to derecognize CPM,” Pillai said. BJP would organize protest programmes across the state against Kodiyeri’s statement, he said.

BJP former state president V Muraleedharan MP in a statement accused Kodiyeri of inheriting the “communist tradition” of supporting the enemy when the country faced threats from outside. He wanted Kodiyeri arrested for treason. “Since the war against China, the communist party in India has been maintaining such a stand. On charges of supporting the enemy country, communist leaders, including EMS Namboodiripad, had to be jailed. Kodiyeri too, instead of supporting the country, has declared loyalty with the enemy country,” he said.

“Kodiyeri made the statement while the CPM central leadership has said it shared the general sentiments of the country. He should be arrested for taking an anti-India stand and proclaiming the same openly with an objective to appease a particular vote bank,” Muraleedharan added.

Since all the pre-poll surveys have predicted the rout of CPM in the upcoming elections, the party secretary was trying to attract Muslim minorities by taking a pro-Pakistan approach, he alleged.

On Tuesday, Kodiyeri told reporters in Idukki that BJP and RSS were trying to target Muslims and create communal polarisation in the country. According to him, BJP had failed to solve the Kashmir issue and it is now worsening it.

