Decrying the Income Tax (IT) Department ‘raid’ at the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) headquarters a day ago, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has lashed out at the Centre for undermining federalism by unleashing its enforcement agencies for petty political gains.
While accusing the Central government of violating Constitutional decorum, Mr. Vijayan said that its continuing attempts to malign the financial institution had backfired.
“The KIIFB had furnished all information that had been sought by the IT Department earlier. In spite of that, the Centre resorted to a raid that violated federal principles. The unethical act is the handiwork of the Centre that sought to misuse its authority and trample upon the powers of State governments. Nonetheless, the KIIFB will remain unaffected. On the other hand, the Centre and its agencies have portrayed themselves in bad light through their act,” he said, while addressing an election convention in Neyyattinkara on Friday in support of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate K. Ansalan.
At another convention held at Kumarichantha for LDF candidate in Nemom and Thiruvananthapuram V. Sivankutty and Antony Raju respectively, Mr. Vijayan stepped up his offensive against the Centre by accusing it of shielding communal forces.
Bemoaning the harassment of a group of nuns and postulants in a train in Uttar Pradesh, the Chief Minister alleged that the perpetrators were being protected from punitive action. Drawing parallels with the murder of a 16-year-old Muslim youth who was killed by a mob in a train in Haryana in 2017, the Chief Minister said such incidents were linked to a growing animosity triggered by the Sangh Parivar towards various communities.
Referring to the recent exit of Congress workers from the party, Mr. Vijayan said the Congress could no longer claim to be the flag-bearers of secularism in the country.
Mr. Vijayan, later, addressed another gathering at the Greenfield Stadium at Karyavattam as part of the LDF candidate in Kazhakuttam Kadakampally Surendran.
