The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday attacked the Congress sharply, accusing it of practicing "shameless" and opportunistic politics.
The BJP accused the Congress of describing itself as being committed to secularism and the Constitution while at the same time aligning with outfits such as Jamaat-e-Islami, which it said propagated Islamic rule.
Discussing this, Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar condemned the Congress for the support of Jamaat-e-Islami at the recent Nilambur Assembly election in Kerala. He had stated that the organization "does not believe in secularism and the Constitution.
He also claimed the late Oommen Chandy, a senior Congress leader and former chief minister of Kerala, had at some point described Jamaat-e-Islami as being anti-national, and that historically the organization had been kept at arm's length by the mainstream politics—even by the Congress—due to its extremist ideology.
"In desperation and opportunism, the Congress has brought such an anti-national and perilous organisation into mainstream politics," Chandrasekhar asserted.
Challenging the Congress for what he has termed double standards, he further stated,
"The party speaks of saving the Constitution and secularism on the one hand but joins hands with an organisation which believes in neither. It is the height of shamelessness."
Chandrasekhar also intimated that the Congress is losing popular support with larger communities because of its record and is presently concentrating on appeasing Muslim constituents. He charged the party with attempting to curry favour with Islamic groups like Jamaat-e-Islami and Imarat-e-Shariah in an attempt to win votes.
He ended by asserting that the Congress has no real development agenda and is using corruption and appeasement politics instead.
The Congress, meanwhile, had won the Nilambur bypoll last month. The victory was interpreted as a morale lifter for the party in the run-up to next year's Kerala Assembly polls, when it will be trying to return to power after being out of the state government for ten years.".
