End soft Hindutva, Jamaat-e-Islami tells CPM

Kozhikode: Jamaat-e-Islami Kerala Ameer P Mujeeb Rahman on Wednesday urged CPM to end what he called its ‘soft Hindutva' stance, accusing the party of creating communal polarization to consolidate majority votes. Addressing a press conference, Rahman said CPM had centred its local body election campaign on Jamaat-e-Islami, with the chief minister and party secretary allegedly using the organisation as a pretext to fuel sharp communal divisions. He claimed the same strategy had failed earlier in the Palakkad byelection and in Nilambur but was redeployed in the local body polls, only to be rejected by the public once again.Rahman said CPM must objectively assess the people's verdict and rethink its approach to polarisation politics, warning that failure to do so would be dangerous both for the party and for Kerala. He added that Jamaat-e-Islami supports a Kerala where both Left and Right fronts coexist. He criticised the CM for praising Vellappally Natesan, whom he said had delivered hate speeches targeting Malappuram and the Muslim community and for allegedly portraying Malappuram negatively in an interview with an English newspaper in Delhi. He also cited the invitation extended to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath to the Ayyappa Sangamam, the govt's decision to sign the PM SHRI scheme without consulting coalition partners and former minister A K Balan's statement that the home department would be handed to Jamaat if UDF came to power. Rahman questioned whether CPM should be engaging in acts that pave the way for Sangh Parivar. He noted that Jamaat leaders had held discussions with Kodiyeri Balakrishnan at the AKG Centre and earlier, with then party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan at the Alappuzha guest house in March 2011 regarding election support. Jamaat-e-Islami state secretaries Shihab Pookkottur and Abdul Hakeem Nadvi, along with assistant secretary Samad Kunnakkavu, were also present at the press conference.