Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s recent interview carried by The Hindu (English daily) has stirred a hornets’ nest in Kerala politics, thanks to the alleged controversial reference to Malappuram. The remark portrayed the Muslim-majority district of Malappuram as a hub of anti-national activities and gold smuggling. Afterwards chief minister’s press secretary wrote a letter to the editor claiming that he (CM) had neither mentioned any region nor used any terminologies such as ‘anti-state’ or ‘anti-national’. The Hindu said that the remarks were added on the request of PR agency Kaizzen PR Services which had arranged the interview. The interview was published on September 30. The title was ‘CPI (M) has always stridently opposed RSS, other Hindutva forces in Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan’. It mainly referred to communalism and gold smuggling. It read: ‘For example, 150 kgs of gold and hawala money worth Rs 123 crore were seized by the state police in the last five years from Malappuram district. This money is entering Kerala for ‘anti-state’ and ‘anti-national activities’.
It invited the wrath of Congress and Indian Union Muslim League in large scale. Several Muslim organisations protested and burned the CM in effigy. They demanded his resignation.
Subsequently, CM’s Press Secretary PM Manoj raised serious concerns regarding the content of the interview and claimed that certain statements were wrongly attributed to the CM. It read, “These statements do not reflect the chief minister’s views and the Kerala Government’s stance on such matters”. As a result, The Hindu carried a correction, but, it stated that the controversial part was added in accordance with the request of the representative of the PR firm. It apologised for the inclusion, stating that it was a lapse in journalistic rigour and it should not have occurred.
The correction reads: “Our journalist interviewed the CM at Kerala House at 9 am on September 29, where two representatives of the PR agency were also present along with the CM. The interview lasted for around 30 minutes. Subsequently, one of the PR representatives requested for the inclusion of the details regarding gold smuggling and hawala transactions, which he said were originally made at a press conference by the CM.”
Reports suggest that Kaizzen’s CEO Vinit Hande and T.D. Subramanian, son of T.K. Devakumar, CPM leader and former party MLA, were present during the interview. Subramanian is reported to be an employee of Reliance and had allegedly asked the journalist to include the answers.
BJP state president K. Surendran said that the chief minister went back on his statement owing to the threats and pressure from rebel CPM MLA P.V. Anvar and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). The news paper has been in circulation since the wee hours of September 30. But, the CM was compelled to change his stance by October 1, 2024 ! If the statistics of the currencies and gold seized from Karippoor International Airport is genuine, what is the CM afraid of, he asked. He alleged that CM is spineless. Anvar’s questions frightened him. Now, he has started to react to Anvar’s allegations. Now, CM talks about communal forces forgetting that he has been pampering the smugglers and religious fundamentalists since the last eight years. It shows his pseudo mind set. He has been giving helping hands to the smugglers and mafia groups. He has been compromising with the religious fundamentalists always.
Surendran alleged that CPM has been ruling several local self government bodies with SDPI, political front of the outlawed Popular Front of India (PFI). Now, Pinarayi suffers the consequences of having nexus with the religious fundamentalists for the sake of defeating Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). He had no delicacy to join hands with Abdul Nasr Madani to fight the Lok Sabha elections of 2004. CPM has been maintaining secret understandings with Jamaat-e-Islami and Madani’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Pinarayi is the only CM in the country who opposed the ban imposed on PFI by the Union Government.
Coming back to The Hindu Vs. PR Agency controversy, one thing is clear: CM enjoys the services of PR agencies. Because, The Hindu’s correction itself has acknowledged the presence of the PR representatives during the interview. CM Pinarayi Vijayan said, addressing the press conference on October 3, that neither his office nor his government has appointed any PR agency. Asked about the presence of PR representatives during the The Hindu interview, as mentioned in the correction carried by the newspaper, CM said that he did not know that they are PR representatives. However, he agreed that he recognised T.D. Subramanian. Asked whether any legal action would be initiated against The Hindu, there was no clear reply.
But, according to reports, Kerala Government has allocated Rs 5 cr for PR and Rs 4 cr for Social Media. It is also reported that total amount of Rs 16 cr. has been allocated for the celebrations of the government’s anniversary.
Still a few questions remain unanswered: Why should CM agree for an interview to a newspaper as demanded by Devakumar. If it is so, what is the job of state government’s Public Relations Department, CM’s Media Secretary and media wing ? If the request of somebody associated with Kaizzen and Reliance necessary for the CM’s interview ? Does anyone dare to enter the room where the CM’s interview takes place ? Those who are well-versed with the style of Pinarayi cannot take it for granted that some one can step into the venue where his (CM’s) interview was going on. Five years back he shouted at media persons ‘Clear off’ when they reached the venue of CM’s meeting with leaders of some other organisations. He loses temper when the public address system malfunctions; an FIR was registered some time back when the CM got angry on such an occasion. Similarly how PR men dared to hand over an additional note to The Hindu sans the CM’s nod ?
In the meantime, State Governor Dr. Arif Mohammed Khan asked the state government what action has been taken against the people responsible for smugglers and anti-national activities. Why did government keep mum ? Governor has asked the state government to provide a detailed report. He said, he wants to be kept informed who are behind the gold smuggling and anti-national activities. He regretted, he was kept in dark regarding such a serious issue.
Governor recalled that he had sent a letter, ten days before, to the government about the phone snooping issue in connection with P.V. Anvar MLA. But, no reply so far.
