Chief Minister Vijayan on Thursday made a quick volte-face from his earlier stance that Malappuram district topped the table in gold smuggling and hawala cash flow. Addressing the media after the cabinet meeting on Thursday, the chief minister said that he never blamed Malappuram district or the Muslim community for gold smuggling and hawala cash flow to the State.

But this is in stark contrast to his stance during the 21st September press meet when he had said that out of the 147 kg smuggled gold seized in the State during the last three years, Malappuram accounted for 124.47 kg of yellow metal and Rs 87.22 crore of hawala cash out of Rs 122.5 crore seized during the period.

It is widely believed that the chief minister retracted his statement on smuggled gold and hawala cash under pressure from leaders of a minority community who were offended by his disclosures. The chief minister had also said during the media meeting that the money generated out of smuggling and hawala cash transactions were being pumped into the State for anti-national activities.

While Vijayan did not disclose the reasons behind the sudden change in his  stance, he  gave a clean chit to the Chennai based English newspaper for carrying in its column an apology for publishing a statement attributed to him which he said he had not told the journalist who had interviewed him in New Delhi. The said interview which was carried in the 30th September edition of the paper had featured the chief minister’s allegation that large scale gold smuggling and hawala cash was taking place in Malappuram district.

“I did not tell this reporter anything on this issue. When I was asked about Anvar and gold smuggling, my reply was that I had made it clear in the press meet held on 21st September itself and do not have much time to elaborate further on the topic,” said Vijayan who patted the Chennai newspaper for its decision to run a public apology.