Kerala Assembly polls 2026: Pinarayi pandering to minority and majority communalism to gain a few votes, says Satheesan

V.D. Satheesan accuses Kerala's CM Pinarayi Vijayan of exploiting communalism for electoral gain ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Friday accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of alternately pandering to minority and majority communalism to gain a few votes in every election. He said that Mr. Vijayan, who had resorted to minority appeasement during the Lok Sabha elections, quickly changed tack to majority appeasement.

“He has felicitated those who made communal speeches. Though Mr. Vijayan had ties with Jamaat-e-Islami, he claimed that he had no connection with it. He said that he would not change his stand on Sabarimala women’s entry for the sake of four votes. Later, when he lost the Parliamentary elections, didn’t CPI(M) workers go to every house and apologise?” asked Mr. Satheesan.

He said that the CM did not have the courage to take action against the CPI(M) members who were arraigned as accused in the Sabarimala gold case even though they were in jail.

“Rahul Gandhi was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for 55 hours. But the Chief Minister’s son only received a summons. No one knows what happened regarding that summons later,” he said.

Regarding the post shared by Mr. Vijayan, which depicted a 2006 photograph showing Mr. Satheesan lighting a lamp in front of a picture of Hindutva ideologue M.S. Golwalkar who served as the second Sarsanghchalak (Chief) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he said that he had gone to the event to express the opinions of the Congress, not to praise the RSS.