Centre using probe agencies to insult political leaders, says Pinarayi

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan criticizes BJP's use of Central agencies to target political leaders, accusing them of unethical tactics.

The government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is trying to deploy Central investigation agencies, including the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), across the country to insult social and political leaders in the name of interrogation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

Opening an election convention of Left Democratic Front’s Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency candidate Elamaram Kareem at Kakkur on Friday, the Chief Minister claimed that investigators were not interested in gathering anything particular from any individual as part of their investigation other than forcing the summoned persons to stay back in a room for long hours without giving access to any medium of communication. “This type of tortures were direct violations of the ethics of a lawful investigation and the rule of law,” he said.

Reacting to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent statement that the Central investigation agencies were ignoring the allegations against the Kerala Chief Minister, Mr. Vijayan said he should not be compelled to address Mr. Gandhi with his “old nickname”. “You should not create an impression that you have not changed from your previous state. I thought you had changed a lot after the Bharat Jodo Yatra,” he remarked.

Coming down heavily against the “illegal interrogation measures” adopted by Central investigation agencies, Mr. Vijayan said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s intention was to target financially and politically influential people with such pressure tactics. “The purpose behind it is to force such persons join the BJP and get a clean chit. The Congress had lost a few senior leaders who joined the BJP as they did not wish to undergo imprisonment,” he said.

Mr. Vijayan also took a swipe at UDF MPs, who, according to him, failed to meet the State’s expectations and refused to stand by the development cause of Kerala which faced severe negligence from the Union government. “They were not even ready to sign a memorandum to address the State’s concerns. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is also answerable as he still claims that I do not speak against the BJP,” he criticised.

Later, addressing another convention at Koduvally, he repeated the allegation that the Parliament members sent by the UDF failed to uphold the demands of Kerala voters. They failed to take decisions on issues that challenged the secular nature of the country, he said.