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'Politics of appeasement carving Kerala': Yogi Adityanath
The UP CM also took a dig at the state government over its Covid-19 pandemic control measures.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday raked up issues such as love jihad and Sabarimala temple row to attack the ruling CPI(M) and opposition Congress in Kerala. Adityanath said that both the parties were in a race to implement appeasement politics in the state.
While inaugurating the ‘Vijay Yatra’ of state president K Surendran in north Kerala’s Kasaragod, ahead of the assembly elections, the UP CM said in 2009 when the Kerala High Court sought action against love jihad, the CPI(M) and the Congress were in a hurry to deny it. Today, many states, including Uttar Pradesh, have enacted a law against it, he added.
“When the High Court ordered the police to investigate the love jihad issue in 2009, both these parties denied it and supported such elements. Appeasement politics was carving Kerala and the Bharatiya Janata Party will put an end to it,” he said.
Adityanath said the CPI(M) was even planning to open a ‘Halal Bank’ in the state - he was mentioning the state government's support to open a Sharia-compliant banking institution in north Kerala.
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“The High Court had said love jihad will turn Kerala into an Islamic republic. But the government was sleeping and encouraging these elements. Now many state governments have enacted a law to contain the scourge,” he said.
He also criticised the Kerala government’s handling of the Sabarimala temple issue. “The government had hurt feelings of believers. I laud BJP workers who stood with devotees. While the state government was trying to destroy Sabarimala, in Uttar Pradesh we are building a temple that will be the sole property of the nation,” he said.
Kerala witnessed unrest in 2018 when the government tried to implement the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala removing all restrictions on women of child-bearing age.
The UP CM also took a dig at the state government over its Covid-19 pandemic control measures. “Kerala chief minister once laughed at UP citing its health infrastructure. Today, Kerala reports a high caseload and the world is laughing at it. The rise in cases here exposes the state government’s failure. In UP, we have a population of 24 crores and we managed the virus situation well,” he said.
The Yatra is seen as the launch of the BJP’s election campaign in the southern state where it is in the third position. Union home minister Amit Shah will address the concluding session of the rally in Thiruvananthapuram on March 7. The party is planning to parade many national leaders, including Union ministers Nirmala Sitaraman and Smriti Irani, during the yatra.
