THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Under attack from Opposition and Muslim organisations, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan today stood by his remarks that radical group PFI was aiming at 'Islamisation of Kerala' and found support from his bete noir and state CPI-M secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
Achuthanandan told the state Assembly that he stood by his remarks made in Delhi on Saturday and said his intention was to expose the "subversive activities" of Popular Front of India (PFI) and his statement was based on evidence recovered by police during the probe into the recent chopping off of the hand of lecturer T J Joseph.
He flayed attempts to 'misinterpret' his remarks as aimed at the entire Muslim community and said "We (CPI-M) are firm in opposing Sangh Parivar groups like RSS and Bajrang Dal. Could anybody interpret it as an attack on Hinduism or the entire Hindu community?"
In a Taliban-style attack, suspected PFI activists had chopped off Joseph's hand on July 4 for preparing a question paper with alleged derogatory references to Prophet Mohammad.
Thirteen PFI activists have been arrested so far in connection with the attack.
Achuthanandan said contents of the pamphlets seized during the raids on PFI offices were "highly communal" and posed a challenge to the democratic set-up with some of their literature even advocating rejection of democracy holding that "Islam and democracy" are two opposite ideologies.
Always at loggerheads with Achuthanandan, Vijayan extended a rare support to his arch-rival and accused the Indian Union Muslim League of misleading the people by seeking to generalise the comment.
Speaking at a function in Kozhikode, Vijayan said "How will a comment against PFI affect Kerala Muslims. Such a stand is not correct," he said.
Vijayan blamed the League for the rise of PFI in the state and alleged the Front had converted some of the places of worship into a storehouse for illegal arms.
Achuthanandan has attracted the ire of Congress and Muslim groups for his comments on PFI who dubbed the statement as "dangerous" and meant to "insulting the entire community."
Congress-led UDF leaders alleged that Achuthanandan's remarks was part of a CPI-M strategy to play "Hindu card" in the forthcoming civic and assembly polls to regain its lost base and demanded its withdrawal.