Kerala\'s mainstream parties vying to support Taliban: State BJP chief

Thiruvananthapuram: BJP state president K Surendran on Saturday alleged that mainstream political parties in Kerala are vying to extend support to Taliban after the terrorist group took control over Afghanistan.

Both the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-headed UDF opposition were playing a different sort of politics after the militants were back in power in the neighbouring country, he charged.

He further alleged that those who take a pro-Taliban stand were the ones trying to whitewash the Moplah riots that occurred in the state in 1921.

"In Kerala, mainstream political parties are vying with each other to extend support to the Taliban. Political leaders in the state are nurturing religious extremism by giving milk and honey," Surendran said here in a press meet.

Attacking the Left government and its police force, the BJP leader said they were taking an "irresponsible" stand as extremist forces were gaining strength in the state.

He also termed as "serious", the recent nabbing of a group of Jammu and Kashmir youths with unlicensed firearms in the state.

Surendran's statements assume significance in the wake of the raging debate in Kerala over whether the Malabar Rebellion alias "Moplah (Muslim) Rebellion" reported in the northern part of the state in the year 1921 was a revolt against the British or a communal riot.

While the CPI(M) has described the rebellion as the most organised agitation against the exploitation by feudal landlords, the Congress has called it a shining movement against the anti-imperialist forces.

However, the BJP and the RSS have described the rebellion as one of the first manifestations of the Taliban mindset in India, strongly opposing the move by the Left and Congress to treat it as part of India's freedom struggle.