In response to CPI-M polit bureau member A Vijayaraghavan’s recent statement that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi’s victory in Wayanad was due to the support of the Muslim communalists, the Jama’at-e-Islami has said that three of the four CPI-M MPs in the Lok Sabha enjoyed the support of the organisation in the recent general elections. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Jama’at-e-Islami Kerala secretary Shihab Pookkottur said his organization has close ties with the CPI-M outside Kerala.

In this context, he disclosed that three among the four CPI-M MPs in the lower house of parliament enjoyed the support of his organisation in the recent general elections. “Two of them are from Tamil Nadu and one from Rajasthan. Jama’at had supported CPI-M candidates in Tamil Nadu in 2019 elections too,” he added. “CPI-M views Jama’at support to Priyanka and Rahul as a great crime. The party is trying to whip up Hindu communalism using this as a tool,” Pookkottur alleged in the post.

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He also shared photos of CPI-M MPs with Jama’at leaders. In one of the photos, Amra Ram, CPI-M MP from Sikar, is seen with Jama’at’s Rajasthan Amir Muhammad Nazimuddin. In another picture, Ram is seen with Jama’at shura member Khurshid Hussein and Sikar district president Arif Jattu.

Shihab Pookkottur also posted a photo of former CPI-M MP from Tamil Nadu P R Natarajan sitting at the Jama’at office in Coimbatore. Jama’at cadre also shared the photo of the memorial meeting of former CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury held in Rajasthan, which was attended by CPI-M Sikar MP along with the outfit’s leaders.

Vijayaraghavan, while speaking at a CPI-M conference in Wayanad recently, stated that those at the forefront of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s rallies included extreme elements espousing communalist agenda and terrorism. He also said fundamentalist votes had catalysed the back-to-back victory of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.

CPI-M leaders including state secretary M V Govindan, central committee memeber P K Sreemathi and LDF convener T P Ramakrishnan had endorsed Vijayaraghavan’s stand. Vijayaraghavan’s statement was targeted at Congress’s alliances with communal organisations like SDPI and Jamaat-e-Islami through the Muslim league.