The CPM supporters in Kannur were in for a surprise during the 23rd party congress when Tamil Nadu CM and DMK chief MK Stalin addressed the thousands of people present at the event in Malayalam.
MK Stalin, who started his speech in Malayalam, said, "When Honourable Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan invited me to the event (CPM party congress), I immediately accepted the invite. Despite the busy Tamil Nadu Assembly schedule, I took part in this event because of my close friendship with Pinarayi Vijayan. The relationship between Kerala and Tamil Nadu goes beyond 80 years."
"Above all, my name is Stalin (referring to the great communist leader Joseph Stalin). That is enough to show my relationship with the Marxist party," he said.
MK Stalin's Malayalam speech received thunderous applause from those at the event.
He also praised Pinarayi Vijayan and called him a tall leader in the country.
"State rights, secularism, equality, fraternity, women's rights - the face of all of this is Pinarayi Vijayan," Stalin said.
Stalin also slammed the BJP and the government led by it at the Centre.
He said unity in diversity is the nation's culture, but efforts aimed at 'eliminating' diversities and create a 'unitary' character were being made.
If India has to be protected, states should be first guarded and only if states are shielded, the nation could safeguarded, Stalin said.
Some were changing the basic political norms, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said apparently hitting out at the BJP.
Underscoring the nation's diversity including those related to religion, food and languages, Stalin said 'unity in diversity is our culture'.
However, efforts were being made to eliminate diversities and create a unitary character, he alleged.
The CM pointed to the BJP-led Centre's proposal like 'one nation, one election', and alleged that efforts were on towards a 'single education', system a 'single religion, language and culture'.
Stalin said a 'single' chorus was now being sung for everything.
Mocking at the BJP, he said at this rate, the trend may extend towards a single party system and though the BJP may be happy with it, nothing could be more dangerous to the country.
Given such a scenario, the BJP has to be opposed and the 'Manilathil Suyathchi, Mathiyil Kootatchi', slogan is his party's voice against autocracy.
The slogan could be roughly translated as autonomy for state and a share in power at the Centre.
He said the nation's Constitution makers did not envisage a unitary structure of power but were for division of powers as reflected in features like the state, centre and concurrent lists.
The Panchayati Raj Act bestowed the local bodies with rights and thus only if villages grew, the state and the nation could witness development.
Stalin was invited by the ruling Marxist party to deliver an address on Centre-state relations.
Using Article 356 of the Constitution, an elected Kerala government steered by CPI(M) was dismissed in 1959, Stalin said adding it was a first of its kind instance.
The DMK governments too were dismissed twice, first in 1976 and then in 1991 using that Constitutional provision.
Hence, both Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the CPI(M) and DMK have all rights to speak on the Centre-State relationship, he said.
(With Inputs From PTI)