An interview with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan published by The Hindu has stirred up a controversy. While the state government has said that certain statements were misrepresented, 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 Pinarayi Vijayan was a client of the PR firm.
The interview published on Monday, September 30, was titled ‘CPI(M) has always stridently opposed RSS, other Hindutva forces in Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan’ and mainly touched upon communalism and gold smuggling. Following its publication, Pinarayi Vijayan drew criticism for his alleged remarks portraying Malappuram district as a hub of anti-national activities. Muslim organistions burnt the CM’s effigy and sought his resignation.
In a letter to the editor of The Hindu, CM’s Press Secretary PM Manoj raised serious concerns regarding the interview’s content and claimed certain statements were wrongly attributed to the Chief Minister. The comment, which drew sharp criticism from the public, was regarding the amount of gold and hawala money seized from Malappuram district.
According to The Hindu, Pinarayi Vijayan was reported to have said: “For example, 150 kg of gold and hawala money worth 123 crore were seized by the State police in the last five years from Malappuram district. This money is entering Kerala for 'anti-State' and 'anti-national activities.' The allegations that you are referring to are a reaction to such action by our government," the letter read.
However, the CM’s press secretary said that Pinarayi Vijayan did not mention any particular place or region during the interview or used terms such as "anti-State" or "anti-national activities". “These statements do not reflect the Chief Minister's views and the Kerala government's stance on such matters,” it added.
In response, The Hindu carried a correction stating that the statement mentioned in the letter 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 in journalistic rigour and should not have happened.
“Our journalist interviewed the CM at Kerala House at 9 am on September 29, where two representatives of the PR agency were also present along with the CM. The interview lasted for around 30 minutes. Subsequently, one of the PR representatives requested for the inclusion of details regarding gold smuggling and hawala transactions, which he said were originally made at a press conference by the CM,” the correction read.
According to Asianet News, two others in the room during the interview were Kaizzen’s CEO Vinit Hande and TD Subramanian, son of former CPI(M) MLA TK Divakaran. It was Subramanian, an employee of Reliance, who allegedly asked the journalist to include the answers, stating that the answer could not be answered during the interview.
According to other reports, Kaizzen said Pinarayi Vijayan was not a client and that no representatives from the PR firm were present with the journalist at Delhi House on September 29 during the interview. “Kaizzen was part of Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s media team when he was an MP and supported the Citizenship Amendment Bill,” Media One said Kaizzen’s director had told the channel.