Row over Balan’s Jamaat-e-Islami remark escalates; LoP demands clarity from CPI(M)

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 7
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly (LoP) V.D. Satheesan on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on senior CPI(M) leader and Central Committee member A.K. Balan, accusing him of adopting a Sangh Parivar-style communal campaign through his recent remarks linking Jamaat-e-Islami to a potential UDF government.

Satheesan said Balan’s statement that Jamaat-e-Islami would control the Home Department if the UDF comes to power was not an isolated political comment but part of a wider, dangerous narrative aimed at communal polarisation.

He alleged that the remark mirrors the hardline propaganda strategies traditionally employed by the Sangh Parivar across India to create fear among majority communities and divide society along religious lines.

Drawing parallels with past political campaigns, Satheesan recalled that the BJP had earlier resorted to similar tactics during the Gujarat Assembly elections by propagating the claim that Ahmed Patel would become Chief Minister if the Congress won.

“The objective then, as now, was to manufacture anti-Muslim sentiment and pit communities against each other for electoral gains,” he said.

Questioning the basis of Balan’s claim, the Opposition leader pointed out that Jamaat-e-Islami had supported the Left for nearly four decades in the past, yet had never controlled the Home Department during that period.

He accused the CPI(M) of deliberately imitating the Sangh Parivar’s style to engineer communal tension, calling Balan’s remark “worse than what the BJP attempted in Gujarat.”

Satheesan further alleged that Balan’s statement was made with the full knowledge and approval of the CPI(M) leadership.

He said this became evident when the remark was read alongside similar statements made recently by SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan.

Raising questions within the Left camp, Satheesan asked whether CPI leader Binoy Viswam — who had opposed Vellappally’s remarks — would now support Balan’s statement as well.

He also recalled that CPI(M) leaders had launched scathing attacks on Binoy Viswam for opposing Vellappally, indicating growing internal contradictions within the Left Democratic Front.

According to Satheesan, the CPI(M)’s embrace of a divisive campaign at a time when the Left front is showing signs of strain could further erode its secular credentials.

Expressing confidence in Kerala’s electorate, Satheesan said the state’s politically conscious public would resist and defeat what he described as a hate-driven campaign by CPI(M) leaders.

Meanwhile top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders urged that the CPI-M leadership correct such baseless statements as it’s a dangerous one which could spoil the state’s overall well-being.