"He should pull shutters down on his agency of lies and hatred": CPI(M)'s Brinda Karat hits back at MoS Chandrasekhar over Kerala claim

New Delhi [India], October 30 : Hitting back at Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar over his claim that the Left government in Kerala was showing growing tolerance towards "radicalism and radicalisation", senior CPI(M) leader and Politburo member Brinda Karat on Monday accused him of being an "agent of communal hate speech and lies".
Coming down heavily on the LDF government after twin blasts at a prayer hall in Kerala left two people dead and several injured, Chandrashekhar said the Kerala government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was increasingly tolerant of radical elements in the state.
Responding to his remark, Karat told ANI on Monday, "Rajeev Chandrashekhar should be ashamed of the communally charged statement he gave without waiting for the investigation (into the twin blasts), which made it absolutely clear that what he said was not only wrong but a complete lie."
"On what basis is Rajeev Chandrashekhar a member of the Union Cabinet? Is it because he is an agent tasked with spreading the poison of hate politics in Kerala," Karat questioned.
The former Rajya Sabha MP alleged that Chandrashekhar has opened an agency to spread communal hatred.
"He should pull the shutters down on his agency of lies and hatred. Kerala is characterised by its religious tolerance and sends the message of communal harmony to the country and the world," Karat said, adding, "The Kerala government should take immediate action and bring whoever is behind the (twin blast) incident to book."
Accusing the Kerala government of making the accused behind the arson in a train coach in Kozhikode out to be "mentally ill", Chandrasekhar said, "Whether it was the attempt to make the person accused of setting fire to a train coach in Kozhikode, which could have claimed the lives of 200-300 passengers, appear as mentally ill until it was revealed (in the NIA probe) that he was an ISIS sympathiser or the blasts, there is a history of appeasement of radical elements by both the Congress and the Left in Kerala."
Meanwhile, MoS Chandrasekhar, earlier on Monday, visited the injured in the twin blasts who are undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College in Kalamassery.
Vijayan on Sunday hit out at Chandrasekhar for his "appeasement politics" over the explosions at a prayer meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Kalamassery area of Kochi around 9 am.
"Those who are poisonous will keep spewing their venom. A Union minister accused me of practising appeasement politics and mobilising protests against Israel. As a responsible minister, he should have shown minimum respect for the investigating agencies that are looking into the incident. It is still early days in the ongoing investigation and they have already started making public statements targeting a particular section of the population," the Kerala CM said.
He claimed that Chandrasekhar's statement reflects a larger communal agenda, adding that Kerala has always stood up against communalism.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the twin blasts at the Zamra International Convention and Exhibition Centre rose to three after a 12-year-old girl, identified as Libina from Malayattoor, succumbed to her injuries in the early hours on Monday.
A man identified as Dominic Martin posted a video on Facebook later on Sunday, claiming responsibility for the attacks.
He later surrendered at the Kodakara police station in Thrissur.
The police, however, said that they were still in the process of verifying Martin's claims.