THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is hardly anything surprising about Priyanka Gandhi’s statement on Ayodhya, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Responding to questions at his evening briefing, Pinarayi said the Congress has always followed a soft Hindutva line.This is the first official response from the Kerala CPM on the Ayodhya issue.
He said it was the Congress that allowed kar seva in Ayodhya and remained mute spectator when Babri Masjid was demolished. At the time, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) too stood with Congress, he said.
On the government’s stance on Ayodhya, Pinarayi said right now the fight against Covid should get top priority.“Priyanka’s remarks come as no wonder. We all know the stance that Congress has adopted over the years. The stance taken by Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao are part of history. If Congress had a clear stance on secularism, India wouldn’t have faced its present fate,” he said. He said there’s nothing new in the stance adopted by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.
“The Congress has always followed a soft Hindutva line. It is the Congress which allowed worship at Babri Masjid. It was the Congress government that allowed laying of foundation stone for temple. Who allowed kar seva? It happened when the Congress was in power at the Centre. When Sangh Parivar activists went to demolish Babri Masjid, who had remained mute spectators? It was the Congress government under then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.
What happened later is the natural culmination of opening Babri Masjid to a section of people, allowing kar seva and laying the foundation stone,” he said.
“It should also be remembered that the Indian Union Muslim League(IUML) has a history of standing with them, when all these happened. All this is part of our country’s history,” said Pinarayi.He said the CPM politburo has already made the party’s stance clear.
“As per today’s (Wednesday) statistics, the number of Covid cases in the country has crossed 19 lakh . We should seriously think about tackling this. There are people facing severe financial crunch due to the prevailing situation. This should get priority. And that’s why the government has initiated certain actions in this regard,” he said.