THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) human chain on Republic Day has evoked sharp reaction from senior BJP leaders, including Union Minister V Muraleedharan and party’s state general secretary K Surendran, who dubbed the exercise as a farce.
Both leaders raised questions about the background of the participants and alleged they were coerced by the ruling party to participate in the human chain.
In a Facebook post, Muraleedharan said the LDF realised that its plan to ensure the participation of 70 lakh people would not materialise and hence mobilised people even from nearby marriage halls for the human chain.
“To know if the message given out by this human chain is that of the state as a whole, one will have to wait till the results of the upcoming local body elections,” said Muraleedharan.
The Union minister alleged both Pinarayi Vijayan and Ramesh Chennithala were wearing a mask of “fake love” towards the Muslim community. “The masks of these leaders would soon fall off,” he said.
K Surendran said the LDF has made the human wall an intolerable farce for the people of the state. In a Facebook post, he asked why primary school students and rural employment guarantee scheme workers were forcibly made to participate in the human chain.
“What have you (LDF) gained from this farce? Do you not realise that you do not have the support of even 1.5 per cent of people in this country? What percentage of minorities support you?” asked Surendran. The BJP leader said the human chain will only end up in LDF losing the support of Hindus in the state.