CPM slams Modi for his comment on Sabarimala

Says he abdicated his oath to defend the Constitution

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. File

CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having abdicated his responsibility to the Constitution by condemning the State government for its sincere attempt to uphold the Supreme Court order allowing women of all age groups to worship at Sabarimala.

In a sharp retort to Mr. Modi’s public comment on Wednesday that Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s actions in the aftermath of the momentous verdict on September 28 was a “shameful chapter in the history of any party or administration”, Mr. Balakrishnan said the PM’s utterance tantamount to contempt of the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Modi, who had pledged to protect and serve the Constitution, had walked back from his oath of office. He had behaved like a functionary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which aspired to rewrite the Constitution to suit its intolerant, misogynist and fascist world view.

The RSS stood for a national pecking order based on religion and caste. It was historically opposed to Enlightenment and Renaissance values. The RSS has brazenly exploited Sabarimala issue to divide Kerala into lines of believers and non-believers, he said

Challenges Congress

Mr. Balakrishnan challenged the Congress to react to Mr Modi’s statement that Kerala would go the Tripura way. The BJP had won in Tripura on the strength of Congress votes. Mr. Modi has predicted that Congress votes in Kerala would defect to the BJP.

The Congress should clarify whether Mr. Modi’s conjecture would prove right here. Mr. Balakrishnan said the BJP had performed pitiably in Assembly and local body byelections. Its voters had shifted to the Left.

The embittered BJP State leadership was now hell-bent on destroying Kerala’s secular fabric to divide the electorate on caste and religious lines. Progressive Kerala would defeat the BJP’s machinations, he said.

Mr. Balakrishnan said the CPI(M) had opposed triple Talaq. However, it had opposed the Centre’s move to create a law that criminalised the practice to intimidate the minority community and impose their Hindu right-wing agenda on them.