Congress will not retain its Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, says CM Vijayan

The Congress will not be able to retain the Lok Sabha seats it had won during the 2019 Parliamentary elections in the state as MPs including, Rahul Gandhi, have 'failed' to resist the BJP in the national polity, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

The Chief Minister also taunted the Congress party over the inclusion of V D Savarkar's photo among the 20 Indian freedom fighters in a banner erected for welcoming the ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' led by Rahul Gandhi.

Addressing a massive crowd here as part of the 50th Martyrdom day of Left leader Azheekodan Raghavan, Vijayan said that people of his state have realised that electing Gandhi to Lok Sabha from Kerala was a mistake.

"When Rahul Gandhi contested here, our people thought that he was going to become the Prime Minister. But the people now know that it was a mistake. That trick of the Congress will not work here again. The UDF MPs from Kerala are not even resisting the BJP at the national level. They failed to raise any issue pertaining to Kerala in the Lok Sabha," Vijayan said.

The veteran Left leader alleged that the communal agenda of the RSS was being encouraged by the Congress and pointed out that even the state chief of the national party had said that he will join BJP if he wants.

"The BJP and the RSS are now trying to include Savarkar as a freedom fighter along with Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad. You all might have seen the poster of Savarkar with Azad in a poster raised by Congress. This shows that the Congress has accepted the campaign of the RSS and that's why Congress in Ernakulam decided to add Savarkar in the freedom fighters list," Vijayan told the gathering on Friday evening.

He also attacked the RSS and the BJP, saying they were never part of the freedom struggle but used to write apology letters to the Britishers and betrayed the freedom fight.

"The RSS advised Hindus that it was not necessary to fight the Britishers. RSS was never part of the freedom struggle and even if they got arrested somehow, we know the example of Savarkar," he said.

Vijayan accused the BJP of trying to spread communalism and dividing the society.

"The RSS talks about 'arsha bharatha samkaram.' But, are they following anything as per that?" he asked.

"A section of people are being projected as our country's enemies. Is that mentioned anywhere in any vedas or puranas? .. they (BJP and RSS) got it from Germany's Hitler. RSS took inspiration from Hitler. Golwalker wrote that Muslims, Christians and Communists are the internal threats to India. RSS took its organisational form from Mussolini," Vijayan claimed.

In his hour-long speech, Vijayan alleged that RSS views the minorities of the country as 'enemies' and are unleashing attacks on them across the country.

Congress was left red-faced on September 21 over Savarkar photo on Bharat Jodo Yatra banner in Kochi.

The national party immediately suspended its Nedumbassery Congress Mandalam secretary, from the primary membership as he was responsible for arranging the banner.

The face of Savarkar in the banner put up near Cochin International Airport was later covered with a photo of Mahatma Gandhi.

The issue grabbed national attention with the BJP central leadership taking a dig at the Congress, describing it as a "good realisation" for Rahul Gandhi.