Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday invoked the spirit of federalism to seek the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevent inquiries by Central agencies from deteriorating into politically motivated fault-finding missions aimed at tarnishing the image of the State government.
In an open letter to Mr. Modi to initiate “corrective steps at least at this juncture”, Mr. Vijayan said Central investigations into the UAE consulate-linked gold smuggling case had turned out to be “fishing and roving” expeditions that sought to cast a wide net in search of some offence or other to portray the State government in a poor light.
The agencies had lost sight of their original aim of solving the case. They had made no headway in the probe since July. The investigations had become part of an orchestrated campaign to defame the political leadership of the Government of Kerala.
Calculated news leaks highlighting cherry-picked portions of the statements of the accused and implanting advance information about impending issuance of summons in the media pointed to a measure of deliberation on the part of some officials in the Customs and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Mr. Vijayan said.
Mr. Vijayan excoriated the Central agencies for violating the Constitutional division of powers in the cooperative federal set-up.
Their sweeping and directionless inquiries had precipitated a “serious governance issue” in the State. The warrants issued by the agencies for details of government programmes lacked specificity, the letter said..
For one, the ED ordered CEO, Life Mission, to “produce all documents” related to the State’s flagship programme to provide free housing to the poor within 24 hours.
Such actions had “demotivated honest and hardworking officers, who will be gripped by fear psychosis,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan summed up the animating principle of federalism that defined Centre-State relationship in his appeal to Mr. Modi a day after the Left Democratic Front had registered an emphatic win in the local body elections in Kerala.
The ruling coalition had weathered a recriminatory campaign that banked heavily on the myriad scandals surrounding the smuggling case to coast to victory in LSGIs across the State.
Simultaneously, Mr. Vijayan appeared to have also attempted to find common cause with other non-National Democratic Alliance-ruled States, which had similar high-profile political run-ins with the federal law enforcement.
