Kerala CM says Congress compromised on secularism

Pinarayi Vijayan said that right-wing Hindu symbolism was a recurrent motif in the election campaign of the Congress

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday cautioned voters that a vote for the Congress might metamorphose into a 'yes' for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

Speaking at a meeting to commemorate E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Mr. Vijayan pointed out that five Congress legislators in Gujarat had defected to the BJP after the Assembly polls. In the ensuing months, several followed suit.

Mr. Vijayan's comment came against the backdrop of the defection of Congress leader Tom Vadakkan to the BJP recently and amidst rumours that the party would field the former Congress insider in Ernakulam.

He accused the Congress of towing a soft-Hindutva line and highlighted its leader Digvijay Singh's statement that the party was in the forefront of the fight to ban cow slaughter. Mr. Vijayan said that right-wing Hindu symbolism was a recurrent motif in the election campaign of the Congress.

In contrast, the secular credentials of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) were set in stone, he said.