Kerala CM faces ire for calling Muslim-majority district Malappuram center of anti-national activities and gold smuggling

Prime Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s recent interview came up The Hindu (English Daily) has stirred up a hornet’s nest in Kerala politics, thanks to the alleged controversial reference to Malappuram. The comment portrayed Muslim-majority Malappuram district as a hub of anti-national activities and gold smuggling. Following this, the Chief Minister’s Press Secretary wrote a letter to the editor claiming that he (CM) had neither mentioned any region nor used terminologies like ‘anti-state’ or ‘anti-national’. The Hindu said the comments were added at the request of PR agency Kaizzen PR Services, which had arranged the interview. The interview was published on September 30. The title read: ‘CPI (M) has always strongly opposed RSS, other Hindutva forces in Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan’. It mainly concerned community thinking and gold smuggling. It said, “For example, in the last five years, 150 kg of gold and hawala money worth Rs 123 crore have been seized by the state police from Malappuram district. This money comes into Kerala for ‘anti-state’ and ‘anti-national activities’.

It provoked the wrath of the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League on a large scale. Several Muslim organizations protested and burned the CM’s effigy. They demanded his resignation.

Subsequently, CM’s press secretary PM Manoj raised serious concerns over the content of the interview and alleged that certain statements were being wrongly attributed to the CM. It said, “These statements do not reflect the views of the Chief Minister and the position of the Government of Kerala on such matters.” As a result, The Hindu made a correction but stated that the controversial part was added in accordance with the request of the PR agency representative. It apologized for the recording, stating that it was a lapse in journalistic accuracy and should not have happened.

The correction reads: “Our journalist interviewed the CM on September 29 at 9 am at Kerala House, where two representatives of the PR agency were also present along with the CM. The interview lasted approximately 30 minutes. Subsequently, one of the PR representatives requested inclusion of the details regarding gold smuggling and hawala transactions, which he said were originally done during a press conference by the CM.”

Reports indicate that Kaizzen’s CEO Vinit Hande and TD Subramanian, son of CPM leader and former party MLA TK Devakumar, were present during the interview. Subramanian is said to be an employee of Reliance and is said to have asked the journalist to record the answers.

BJP state president K. Surendran said the chief minister retracted his statement due to threats and pressure from rebel CPM MLA PV Anvar and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). The newspaper has been in circulation since the early hours of September 30. But the CM was forced to change his position before October 1, 2024! If the statistics of currencies and gold seized at Karippoor International Airport are authentic, what is the CM afraid of, he asked. He alleged that CM is spineless. Anvar’s questions scared him. Now he is starting to respond to Anvar’s allegations. Now CM talks about the strength of the community, forgetting that he has been pampering the smugglers and religious fundamentalists for the past eight years. It shows his pseudo mentality. He has given helping hands to smugglers and mafia groups. He has always compromised with the religious fundamentalists.

Surendran alleged that CPM has been running several local self-government bodies with SDPI, the political front of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI). Now Pinarayi is suffering the consequences of his links with the religious fundamentalists aimed at defeating the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). He had no delicacy to join hands with Abdul Nasr Madani to fight the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. CPM maintains secret agreements with Jamaat-e-Islami and Madani’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Pinarayi is the only CM in the country who opposed the ban imposed on PFI by the Union government.

Coming back to The Hindu Vs. PR agency controversy, one thing is clear: CM enjoys the services of PR agencies. Because The Hindu’s own correction has acknowledged the presence of the PR representatives during the interview. CM Pinarayi Vijayan, during the press conference on October 3, said that neither his office nor his government has appointed a public relations agency. Asked about the presence of PR representatives during The Hindu interview, as mentioned in the newspaper’s correction, CM said he was not aware that they are PR representatives. However, he agreed that he recognized TD Subramanian. When asked whether legal action would be taken against The Hindu, there was no clear answer.

But according to reports, the Kerala government has allocated Rs 5 cr for PR and Rs 4 cr for social media. It is also reported that the total amount of Rs 16 cr. is intended for the celebration of the government’s anniversary.

A few questions still remain unanswered: Why would CM agree to an interview for a newspaper as requested by Devakumar. If so, what is the role of the Public Relations Department of the state government, the Media Secretary and the CM’s Media Department? If the request of someone associated with Kaizzen and Reliance is necessary for the CM’s interview? Does anyone dare to enter the room where the CM’s interview is taking place? Those well versed in Pinarayi’s style cannot assume that anyone can enter the venue where his (CM’s) interview took place. Five years ago, he shouted ‘Clean up’ at the media persons when they reached the venue of CM’s meeting with leaders of some other organizations. He loses his patience when the public address system malfunctions; Some time ago, an FIR was registered when the CM got angry on such an occasion. The same way how PR men dared to hand over an extra note to The Hindu without the CM’s nod?

In the meantime, State Governor Dr. Arif Mohammed Khan the state government which action has been taken against the people responsible for smugglers and anti-national activities. Why did the government keep quiet? The governor has asked the state government to provide a detailed report. He said he wants to be kept informed about who is behind the gold smuggling and anti-national activities. He regretted remaining in the dark about such a serious issue.

The governor recalled that he had sent a letter to the government ten days earlier on the issue of telephone snooping related to PV Anvar MLA. But so far no answer.