A statement made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a press meet held on 21st September where he disclosed details about the seizure of smuggled gold and hawala money from Malappuram district has polarized Kerala community on communal lines and that too after a fortnight.

In a media interaction on 21st September, Chief Minister Vijayan had said that out of the 147 kg smuggled gold seized in the State during the last three years Malappuram district accounted for 124.47 kg yellow metal.

He also said that the district accounted for Rs 87.22 crore out of the Rs 122.5 crore hawala cash seized during the same period. Vijayan’s answers were in response to the independent MLA P V Anvar’s allegation that the police as well as a senior official of the chief minister’s office were hand in gloves in tormenting those who brought gold when they returned home from West Asian countries.

What the chief minister told a daily known more as the English version of CPI(M)’s mouthpiece Deshabhimani on 29th September at New Delhi was that the money generated out of gold smuggling and hawala transaction was being used for anti-national activities. Interestingly, Vijayan did not name any political party or communities as accused in the illegal activities.

Within 24 hours of the Chennai daily publishing the interview with Vijayan, the press secretary to the chief minister issued a release stating that the interview has been distorted by the reporter and the paper had put words into his mouth.

The newspaper, the honcho of which is described as a close confidante of the Marxist bosses, issued a correction stating that some sentences that were not part of the interview were added in the published version at the request of the PR person who helped arrange the interview, “We unreservedly apologies for this serious error of judgment on the part of the reporter and the lack of editorial oversight in this instance,” said the newspaper in its columns on Wednesday.

Political and cultural Kerala sees this as part of appeasing the Muslim community.

The Muslim League and various Islamist outfits had come out strongly against the chief minister’s disclosures on gold smuggling and hawala deals. “Their approach itself is shocking as what the chief minister told the media was based on data he might have sourced from official sources. It is surprising to hear the statement made by Anvar and others that the chief minister had hurt the sentiments of Muslims in Malappuram district,” said Valsan Thillankeri, top RSS leader in Kerala.

Valsan pointed out that Malappuram district which has a population of 45 lakh  out of which nearly 20 per cent belong to Hindu community while the Muslims constitute 75 per cent. How come the Muslims claim monopoly over gold smuggling and hawala transaction, asked Valsan.

Anvar, an Islamist politician who had succeeded in infiltrating into the inner coterie of the chief minister’s office and residence, had alleged that P Sasi, Vijayan’s political secretary as a criminal.

Vijayan had said that Sasi was a role model for all Marxists and he does not need any good service entry from anybody.

Interestingly, no mainstream media in the State had reported about the data about gold and hawala transaction furnished by the chief minister during his 21st September press meet.

But Governor Arif Mohammed Khan told reporters at Kozhikode on Wednesday that it was mandatory on the part of the chief minister to inform Raj Bhavan about the gold smuggling and hawala deals since these were issues concerning national security.