Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday alleged that Kerala under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has shown tolerance towards radical elements and radicalisation.
Speaking to media persons in Kochi, Rajeev Chandrasekhar asked what kind of ethics Chief Minister Vijayan is having to call him a communalist. He said that both the Left and Congress allow radical elements to grow in Kerala.

Hitting back at CM Vijayan who on Sunday slammed the Union Minister over his social media posts criticising Vijayan over the blasts at a religious gathering in Kalamassery, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said: “Under Vijayan, Kerala has shown increasing tolerance towards radical elements and radicalization. Whether it is June 23rd Elathur-Kozhikode attempt to burn a train which would have caused, if he had succeeded over 200-300 deaths and the characterization of that person as being mentally ill till it was revealed that he was an ISIS sympathizer, and that was a deliberate attempt at terrorism. There is a history of appeasement of radical elements by both the Congress and the Left in Kerala…”

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Terming Chandrasekhar’s posts as part of his communal stand, CM Vijayan on Sunday, without naming Chandrasekhar, sought to know based on what information the Union Minister made such remarks against him and how a person holding a responsible position could come out with such statements while the investigation was going on.

“Pinarayi Vijayan is making false accusations to hide his incompetence and corruption. If the people cannot be protected, he should give up the Home Department,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar told media persons in Kochi on Monday.

Moments after the Kalamassery blasts, Union Minister Chandrasekhar on social media platform X slammed the Kerala CM for doing ‘appeasement politics’.

Referring to the protest against the Israel-Hamas war that Vijayan participated in Delhi, Chandrashekhar said: “Sitting in Delhi and protesting against Israel, when in Kerala open calls by terrorist Hamas for Jihad is causing attacks and bomb blasts on innocent Christians.”

“Those who are poisonous will keep spitting poison,” Pinarayi Vijayan said with an indirect reference to Chandrasekhar, while speaking to the media on Sunday. “One of the Union Ministers made a statement that I am engaging in appeasement politics and protesting against Israel,” he said.

Commenting on the Union Minister’s diatribes against him on Monday, CM Vijayan at a press conference said that Rajeev Chandrasekhar had been spewing not just poison but deadly poison in a bid to dent the secular credentials of Kerala.

“He and his friends have been targeting a particular community and making grave allegations to disturb the state’s secular fabric,” CM Vijayan said.