Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan intensifies attack on IUML supremo Thangal

Kollam(Kerala) | Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday intensified his attack on IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, stating that he was responsible for the League's current stance regarding the Jamaat-e-Islami and the SDPI, which is the political offshoot of the radical Islamist outfit, Popular Front of India (PFI).

On Sunday, Vijayan had said that Thangal was behaving like a worker of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Panakkad Thangal is also the spiritual leader of a significant section of Sunni Muslims in Kerala.

On Tuesday, during his speech at a party event here, the CM said that his earlier criticism of Thangal had sent the members of the League into a frenzy and that they had "responded in a language akin to that of communal extremists".

"Do not come here with that kind of language. We (CPIM) are against all forms of communalism," he said.

Vijayan also said that his earlier criticism was directed at the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) supremo Thangal and that he had never commented on the other Thangals of Panakkad from the past.

"There have been a lot of Panakkad Thangals. I have never said anything about them. What I said earlier was about IUML president Thangal," he said.

The CM sought to know whether before Thangal became the head of IUML, a major ally of the Congress, the League had any connection with the Jamaat-e-Islami.

"Did it have the present stand that it has with regard to the Jamaat and SDPI? Is he (Thangal) not responsible for it?" he asked.

His earlier remarks against Thangal had prompted the Congress-led UDF to accuse Vijayan of attempting to promote majority communalism in the state.

The League, the second-largest coalition partner in the UDF, had also launched a strongly worded attack against him through an editorial in the party mouthpiece "Chandrika".

On Tuesday, Youth Congress state president Rahul Mamkootathil, the UDF candidate in the Palakkad bypoll, said that Vijayan's remarks against Thangal would be a factor in the by-election.

He said that the remarks also had communal undertones and indicated Vijayan's Sangh Parivar mindset.