Controversy rages over Kerala CM Vijayan's 'gold smuggling remarks', CPI-M defends him

Thiruvananthapuram: Amid the ongoing controversy over Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's purported remarks on the "entry of gold and hawala money" into the state's Malappuram district in an interview, his claims of being misquoted, and the role of a PR agency, his CPI-M on Wednesday swung to his defence.

Leading from the front was the state Tourism Minister and the Chief Minister's son-in-law P.A. Mohammed Riyas, who said this is nothing new for a Communist leader like Vijayan who has always been "a target of the media".

"Vijayan is being mercilessly attacked by the media just because he is the head of the Left movement and this is nothing new to him or the party. A politician like Vijayan doesn’t need any PR. Whatever the media tries to play it up, we will be giving replies and none can cow down him or the Left," he said.

It was on September 30 that the interview with Vijayan done in New Delhi appeared in the national daily and what landed Vijayan in trouble was his purported mention that 150 kg of gold and hawala money worth Rs 123 crore were seized by the police in the last five years from Malappuram district.

"This money is entering Kerala through anti-national activities," the Chief Minister reportedly said in the interview.

Even though a few reactions against this especially from Malappuram surfaced, the issue gained momentum when Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Tuesday expressed concern about the gold smuggling in Malappuram and termed it a "serious issue".

"The gold smuggling and seizure of Hawala money in the Malappuram district is a serious issue. I would like to know what has been done by the state government in stopping the smuggling in the district,” the Governor told media persons.

Soon, numerous Congress leaders as well as of the Indian Union Muslim League, whose citadel is Malappuram, slammed Vijayan and soon came a statement from his office asking the national daily to come clean on the issue as Vijayan has not made such a statement.

Subsequently, the daily clarified that there was a PR agency that had fixed the appointment with the Chief Minister and there were two people with it, and one of them later asked them to include this statement also.

The issue is also reverberating on social media with questions being asked why are Vijayan and the state government not taking legal action against the wrongdoers.

Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister V. Muraleedharan slammed Vijayan for employing a PR agency and called for the Public Relations Department, which is under Vijayan, to be disbanded with immediate effect.

Left-backed Independent legislator P.V. Anvar, who has taken up cudgels with Vijayan, on Wednesday said that it is very strange that it took 32 hours after the interview appeared for a reaction from the office of Vijayan.

"All this is a drama enacted between the key players behind the interview. The need of the hour is to let the newspaper release the recording of the interview. Moreover, Vijayan and others claim there is no PR agency for him. If the interview was wrong, why did it take 32 hours for Vijayan’s office to react," he asked.