Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on both the BJP-led Union government and the Congress-led opposition in the state, accusing the Center of trying to strangle Kerala financially while the Congress remained conspicuously silent on the issue.
He argued that instead of resisting the Centre’s discriminatory approach, the Congress was effectively acting as the BJP’s B-team by aligning itself with its policies and political strategies.
Mr. Vijayan said the Union Budget once again exposed the Centre’s sustained and deliberate neglect of Kerala, driven by political animosity against the state for refusing to ally with the BJP.
He launched the Vikasana Munnett Jatha South Zone in Chelakkara led by CPI State Secretary Binoy Viswam.
The Chief Minister said Kerala’s long-pending demand for an All India Institute of Medical Sciences was again ignored in the budget despite the state’s strong public health record. He noted that the state had proposed several sites, including land in Kozhikode district, and had repeatedly taken up the matter with the Prime Minister only to face disappointment year after year.
“The people of Kerala are being punished for not accepting the BJP,” Mr. Vijayan alleged, alleging that development funds were being withheld as a political weapon.
He further blamed the Congress for not raising its voice against the Center’s discrimination in the Union Budget. “They have not spoken a single word against the Centre’s neglect of Kerala. The scenes we witnessed in the Assembly are shameful. They do not want a discussion on the state budget,” he said.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Viswam said that blind hostility towards the Left was a common factor uniting both the BJP and the Congress. Accusing the BJP-led Union government of imposing what he called a “financial embargo” on Kerala, he said the state had virtually no place in the Union budget.
“What the Center has towards Kerala is hatred, enmity and fear. It is nothing but a financial embargo,” Vishwam said, asserting that Kerala will not bow down. “If we lose, India itself will lose,” he added, describing the LDF as “the light lit by the people in the southern corner of the country.”
The program was attended by Jatha Manager M. Swaraj, leaders of various LDF constituent parties and supporters.
Published – 03 Feb 2026 21:24 IST
