Pinarayi slams Amit Shah, calls him an ’embodiment of communalism’

Addressing a public meeting in Dharmadam, his assembly constituency in north Kerala’s Kannur district, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had conveniently forgotten his stature and was busy creating a smokescreen in the state ahead of assembly elections.

“I never spent months together in jail. People who make frivolous charges should see their past also,” he said referring to Shah spending time in jail in Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi encounter cases of 2005 in Gujarat. Shah was later acquitted in the case.

Vijayan said the home minister insulted the state by making unsavoury and malicious charges and Kerala would not fall for his ‘divisive’ policy.

“People are yet to forget about his role in Gujarat riots. A staunch advocate of communal division and hatred, we don’t need any certificate from Shah. If he thinks that Kerala is like a north Indian state, he’s terribly mistaken,” the CM said.
In reply to Shah’s questions, asked earlier, about the smuggling scandal, the Chief Minister responded with his own questions.

“The case surfaced in July. What did the customs do in eight months? How some of the airports have turned into smuggling hub and why central agencies failed to nab real people who are kingpins of the thriving racket?,” he asked. He also criticised minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan.
Earlier on Sunday, Shah had said that Vijayan had no moral right to continue in power in the light of recent developments in the smuggling case.