Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan unleashed a fierce critique against Assam’s Himanta Biswa Sarma and the BJP, labeling their dissemination of a hate-stirring video as a direct assault on India’s secular democracy. Posted on Facebook, his statement dissects the video from Assam BJP’s page that portrays Sarma seemingly urging public violence against Muslims.
The incident has profoundly disturbed the nation’s secular ethos, exposing BJP’s dangerous political game, Vijayan wrote. From a high constitutional perch, this is not just worrisome but a grave precedent that erodes democratic pillars.
He contextualized it within Sarma’s history of inflammatory speeches and slurs against the ‘Miya’ Muslims in Assam, framing them as deliberate moves in BJP’s divisive playbook. With elections looming, this communal polarization is a calculated bid to rally majority votes, even at the cost of constitutional sanctity.
Vijayan posed a stark question: How can a figure accused of genocidal rhetoric helm a state in a secular republic? The BJP top brass’s conspicuous silence signals endorsement, allowing Sarma to articulate the unpalatable views that RSS and party shy away from openly.
Highlighting Sarma’s political evolution—from influential Congress minister to BJP joiner in 2015—Vijayan accused him of spearheading communal strategies in the Northeast. No repercussions for such marginalizing statements underscore that this is BJP’s foundational mindset, not an aberration, he emphasized in a call to defend India’s pluralistic values.