Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who released senior CPI(M) leader P Jayarajan’s book on Muslim politics in Kerala on Saturday, distanced himself from the personal views of the senior party leader in the book.
In his book, Keralam: Muslim Rashtreeyam – Rashtreeya Islam (‘Kerala: Muslim Politics – Political Islam’), Jayarajan blamed the 2008 Bengaluru blast accused and chairman of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Abdul Nasser Madani for luring Muslim youths in Kerala to terrorism.
“I had only a cursory look at the book,” Vijayan, who is also a CPI(M) politburo member, said, after releasing the book in Kozhikode.
Without referring to any topics discussed in the book, Vijayan said: “That I am releasing the book does not mean I agree with its entire content. The author will have his own opinion.”
“Though we both belong to the same political party, Jayarajan’s personal analysis on issues might be different. It should be seen only in such a manner,” Vijayan said, adding “the book highlights that the Left should be strengthened to protect the rights of minorities”.
Jayarajan, in his Malayalam book, had observed that Madani’s provocative speeches in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 had sowed extremist thoughts among Muslim youths in the state.
Madani had then disbanded his outfit Islamic Sevak Sangh and floated the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Madani was also accused of imparting arms training to Muslim youths, under the aegis of ISS.
Madani was arrested by Kerala police in connection with the Coimbatore blasts of 1998 when the LDF government was in power in the state. After being acquitted in the case in 2007, his party had leaned towards the CPI(M), when Vijayan was the party’s state secretary. After his long stint in jail, Madani had then claimed that he had turned over a new leaf.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the CPI(M) had joined hands with Madani’s PDP and backed Madani’s nominee Hussain Randathani as the LDF candidate from Ponnani, but he lost. Vijayan, who had then shared dias with Madani, had drawn flak from ally CPI over hobnobbing with the PDP leader. The electoral understanding with Madani was then described by many as one of the reasons for the Left rout in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. In 2010, Madani was again arrested in connection with the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts, which shattered his party’s political dreams in Kerala.
