Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that there were forces in the country that continuously try to communalise minorities, and this has to be understood. He added that those who wear the mask of secularism should be recognised.
He was speaking at a reception organised for the Samastha Shatabdi Sandesh Yatra, led by Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama president Syed Muhammad Jifri Muthukoya Thangal, at Putharikandam Maithanam in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
“The yatra led by Mr. Thangal should send a strong message that no one would be allowed to disrupt the unity and peace of the land. At the same time, we should also understand that there are some forces that use minority communalism as a means to oppose the majority communalism. Religion and communalism are two different things. The common nature of all communalists is to spread lies, and there are trained professionals for this purpose. Everyone should be able to identify the different tactics of these forces,” said the Chief Minister.
It is also important that there should not be any compromise made towards those who try to counter the majority communalism through minority communalism, said Mr. Vijayan. These two communalisms are complementary to each other. “We need to be able to discern both of them. It is also a time when we need to act more cautiously, as unity in diversity is being undermined every moment. Samstha is an outfit that has been able to stand on the side of humanity at a time when communalism is rampant. Samastha has been able to fight for the just rights of the Muslim community,” he said.
The State government is ready at every stage to address the concerns of minorities and move forward with them, he said. The Left has always taken an uncompromising stand to protect the secular fabric of the country. Whenever communalism has raised its head, the Left has stood strong against such forces, and has a history of standing up against communal forces, he added.