Opposition leader in Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan on Wednesday alleged that the controversial part of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s interview appeared in The Hindu on Monday was written with his knowledge.
Speaking to media persons in Thiruvananthapuram, Satheesan slammed the Chief Minister for involving a PR agency during an interview with The Hindu English daily. He said the controversial remark in the newspaper was written with the permission of the Chief Minister.
The opposition leader said that if the PR agency included statements the CM did not make, it would constitute a criminal offence and he asked the Chief Minister whether he would take legal action against the PR agency for writing contents which he did not actually say.
“Why does the Chief Minister need a PR agency to conduct an interview,” he asked, claiming that the head of the PR agency, Kaizzen, was present at the time of the interview.
Satheesan pointed out the irony of the Chief Minister engaging with a public relations agency, despite already having a media team and a social media strategy costing around Rs 12 lakh per month.
An interview with Chief Minister Vijayan published by The Hindu on Monday has stirred a controversy. The CM on Tuesday said that his words were misinterpreted and that the controversial remarks were wrongly attributed to him, the newspaper said the interview was edited after a PR agency, Kaizzen that arranged the interview, asked for it.
Kaizzen on Wednesday, October 2, reportedly denied that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was a client of the PR firm.
In the interview, Chief Minister Vijayan claimed that over the past five years, 150 kg of gold and hawala money worth Rs.123 crores had been seized in Malappuram, suggesting that these funds were being utilized for anti-state and anti-national purposes.
The CM drew criticism from various organizations for his alleged remarks portraying Malappuram district as a hub of anti-national activities. Protests have emerged, including from the Kanthapuram faction of Sunni organization which has a Left leaning.
Organisations such as the Muslim League, Kerala Muslim Jamaat,S unni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS) and Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF) have also come out against the statement of the Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister’s Office on Tuesday clarified that his words were misinterpreted and taken out of context. “The CM never specified any particular location or used the terms “anti-State” or “anti-national activities” during the interview,” the CMO said.
In response, The Hindu issued a correction stating that the statements mentioned in the interview were requested to be added by a representative of the PR firm. The statement also apologised for the inclusion, stating that it was a lapse on their part that should not have happened.
It has been reported that Kaizzen’s CEO Vinit Hande and TD Subramanian, son of former CPM MLA were there in the room during the interview.
It was Subramanian, an employee of Reliance, who allegedly asked the journalist to include the answers, stating that the question could not be answered during the interview, it has been reported.
A report says that Kaizzen has clarified that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was not their client and that no representative from the PR firm was present with the journalist during the interview.