Kerala polls: Surendran promises law against 'love jihad' if BJP voted to power

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kerala president K Surendran on Saturday said a law will be brought to counter the alleged "love jihad" in Kerala if his party is voted to power in the Assembly election.

Asked if BJP will bring legislation to tackle alleged love-jihad in the state, he said, "We will initiate legislation if voted to power. The whole Christian community already passed their concern to PM Modi. Why are they sending people to Syria if it is genuine love marriage? Many cases are reported but the government is not taking any legal action which is why we will bring legislation on the issue."

"Though we had only one seat in the last election, we garnered 16 per cent votes. We will win more seats in this election. We are trying to form the government in Kerala if we get 40 seats," he added.

He criticised Left Democratic Front (LDF)-led the Kerala government for ordering a judicial probe against the Enforcement Directorate following its ongoing probe into several cases, including the gold smuggling case.

A judicial commission cannot intervene in the investigation of central agencies, he said.

Calling the exercise a futile effort, Surendran said, "Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to PM Modi inviting the Central agencies to Kerala. They are now investigating and more cases are coming day by day. He tried to block them by filing cases in court and now he declared a judicial commission," Surendran said.

Calling the judicial probe, "undemocratic and anti-constitutional", the BJP leader said that "people will understand that the Chief Minister is trying to sabotage the investigation."

Asked if the dollar and gold smuggling is a major poll plank this year, he said, "164 statements of Swapna Suresh, prime accused in gold smuggling case said that the Chief Minister helped in many ways for the gold and dollar smuggling. The speaker is involved, four ministers are involved and the Chief Minister's private secretary is in jail."

"The CM himself is the kin pin in this case as the Chief Minister's Office is involved," he further said

On the Sabarimala agitation and Congress' promise to stand with devotees, Surendran said, "Lakhs of our women and youth workers were arrested and jailed. More than 270 cases have been charged against me."

"Congress was sitting 'mum' in the gallery. Rahul Gandhi welcomed the SC judgement. BJP was the only party with the devotees and CPI(M) has again said that they are not going to withdraw the affidavit (that supported women entry into Sabarimala)."

He alleged, "Jamaat-e-Islami is with UDF and Popular Front of India (PFI) is with LDF," and asked, "How can the Christian community believe both these fronts?"

He said that the people of Kerala are fed up with LDF and UDF "because of their scams" adding that "Metroman E Sreedharan and IPS officer Jacob Thomas joined us. It shows that we are the only party that can give a corruption-free government."

Slamming the LDF government for its alleged back door appointment rather than through PSC, he said, "More than 60 lakh youth are unemployed in Kerala."

The election for the 140-member Kerala assembly in 14 districts will be held in a single phase on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

( With inputs from ANI )