Kerala: KPCC president says BJP, CPM 'preparing universities to create RSS leaders'

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Sudhakaran said on Saturday that the Congress sees the "BJP-CPM alliance" as their main opponent. Sudharakan made the comments while inaugurating a meeting of District Congress Committee members in Thiruvananthapuram.

Accusing the BJP of trying to push their agenda through university course books, Sudhakaran said, "Left Democratic government is preparing universities to hold RSS leaders. Is this without the knowledge of CPM, higher education minister or without the knowledge of syndicate where all members are from Left?"

The Congress leader said that the syllabus change was part of 'an agenda'. "That agenda is (against) Indian National Congress. Our fight is against that agenda," he said. 

Last week, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president had announced new reforms to revitalise the party in the state and to prepare for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Sudhakaran has put emphasis on youth and decided to appoint salaried full-time workers. He said that discipline will be taken seriously within the party and complacency will not be tolerated.

Kerala CM's never-ending controversy

The KPCC president also alleged that both the BJP and CPM used their political influence to bail out Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan from a gold smuggling case. He implied that the investigative agencies responsible did not work as effectively as they would have and hinted at a possible hindrance from the two parties.

He said, "BJP is protecting Pinarayi Vijayan. If Congress wants to oppose BJP and CPM, the party should become stronger." Sudhakaran made serious allegations both against the court and the BJP and said that Supreme Court judges have been instructed by the BJP to postpone Vijayan's case on at least 20 occasions.

The Kerala chief minister was accused of smuggling gold using diplomatic cargo that was meant for the United Arab Emirates. The Emirati Consulate in Kerala earlier said that Pinarayi took a bag full of currency to the UAE during one of his visits in 2017. The Customs later confirmed that the statement was made by the consulate’s former employee, P S Sarith, in a deposition last year.

(With inputs from ANI, Image: PTI)