Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had ignored the storied contributions of the Muslim and Christian communities in the hard-fought struggle to achieve social reform in Kerala.
Instead, the CM has sought to build a human wall of women to ostensibly protect Enlightenment values by embracing a preferred few Hindu caste organisations over other communities which had an equal stake in transforming Kerala from a medieval society into a modern one.
At a press conference held immediately after the Assembly adjourned indefinitely in the face of strident Opposition protests , Mr. Ramesh questioned Mr. Vijayan's contention that progressive values faced a grave and imminent threat in Kerala.
He likened the CM to the fictional Spanish knight Don Quixote who charged windmills believing them to be giant monsters. Similarly, Mr. Vijayan is jousting against non-existent threats, Mr. Ramesh said, adding that his wall sought to divide people into caste lines viciously. The CM has widened the schism between communities, Mr. Ramesh claimed.
The "caste wall" ran against the grain of the Constitution and violated the concept of equality propounded by social reformers, Mr. Ramesh said. The CM has channelled public funds and marshalled the State machinery for a communally divisive end, he added.
Deputy Opposition Leader M.K. Muneer of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) said Mr. Vijayan has attempted to build a "Berlin" wall in the minds of people by weaponising caste identity to gain short-term political advantage over the Opposition on the Sabarimala issue. The CM's tactical gambit was dubious and did not augur well for a secular society, he added.
Mr. Muneer also questioned the credibility of the organisers of the "base propaganda stunt". He alleged that K. P. Sugathan, one of the primary movers, had infamously urged the honour killing of a Hindu woman who married a Muslim man on her own volition.
Mr. Vijayan's book on social reform in Kerala had described Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) general secretary Vellapally Natesan, another champion of the CM's cause, as a "caste maniac", he said. The Government was coercing employees and women self-help groups to join the wall.
Kerala Congress (M) leader K. M. Mani said the Opposition would seek legal and political means to counter the socially divisive move of the ruling front.
