A war-of-words has erupted between Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) after Pinarayi accused the Muslim League of striking a deal with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by joining an alliance with Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Jamaat-E-Islami. 

Comparing Pinarayi Vijayan to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Muslim League (IUML)’s mouthpiece Chandrika held the CPI(M) leader responsible for the party’s debacle in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections and referred to him as ‘Modi in Mundu’. 

In its editorial, the newspaper attacked the Kerala Chief Minister for his refusal to take blame for the defeat of the Marxist party even after their national and state leaders found the government as a key reason for their failure. “Pinarayi Vijayan is trying to say that other parties have lost faces instead of realising that he has lost his face. He is using dirty tricks of Narendra Modi through delimitation of civic body wards to benefit CPI(M),” it added. 

The editorial also said that Pinarayi Vijayan failed to realise that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) lost Ezhava votes to the BJP because of SNDP leader Vellappally Natesan. “Pinarayi thinks CPI(M) workers will forget their party’s failure if he attacks the Muslim League,” it stated.

Addressing the 61st state conference of the NGO Union in Kozhikode on June 22, Pinarayi Vijayan urged leaders of the Muslim League to introspect whether the alliance with SDPI and Jamaat-e-Islami had brought them disrepute. “Despite being aware of their antecedents, the Congress also made them a part of their election campaign. They [IUML) should understand that this attitude does not go well with the culture of our state,” he added.

The Chief Minister of Kerala also said that the election results did not indicate hostility towards the Left front and that it was due to the efforts of the right-wing parties in the country.

IUML state general secretary P M A Salam said it was the Chief Minister who should introspect and make necessary changes to improve himself. “He should have said he would rectify his mistakes. Instead, he is finding faults with others,” Salam added.