Pinarayi Vijayan Photo Credit: NIRMAL HARINDRAN
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday slammed Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Rahul Gandhi for accusing the Left Democratic Front (LDF) of going hand-in-hand with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose government in Chhattisgarh was responsible for the “unjust imprisonment” of two Kerala nuns accused of force-trafficking in July. 2025.
Mr Vijayan said Mr Gandhi’s “blatantly misleading” statement reeked of “insolence stemming from social and political illiteracy and ignorance”.
The Chhattisgarh police’s arrest and subsequent detention of nuns Sister Preeti Mary and Sister Vandana Francis, who were illegally detained and chased for hours at Durg railway station by Bajrang Dal activists, sparked national outrage and strong protests in Kerala.
The Role of Congress
Mr. Vijayan said the nuns were arrested under provisions of the Freedom of Religion Act, a “legacy” of the Congress governments that ruled Madhya Pradesh in the decades preceding the creation of Chhattisgarh state.
Mr. Vijayan recalled that Congress leader Ajith Jogi was the first Chief Minister of the newly formed state. He said Mr Jogi had refused to invalidate a discrimination law that banned “forcible” conversion.
The 2024 election manifesto of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) called for the withdrawal of an apparently anti-Christian law that sought to target missionaries, including clergy involved in charitable work for the benefit of the wider public.
Mr. Vijayan noted that Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh were conspicuously absent when national leaders of the CPI(M) protested outside Durg Jail to meet the nuns, both senior citizens afflicted with chronic illnesses, and provide them with medical care and proper nutrition.
Mr. Vijayan said the Congress’s “complacency and ideological ambiguity” in political opposition to Hindu majority forces, including their misdeeds against minorities, paved the way for the dominance of the Sangh Parivar-backed BJP in India.
Mr. Vijayan noted that the Congress was in power when Sangh Parivar forces brutalized thousands of tribal Christians, disrupted prayer meetings and destroyed churches during the 2022-23 Christmas celebrations in Chhattisgarh.
“Mr Gandhi was at the pinnacle of the national leadership of the Congress. Was he on holiday when Hindutva forces attacked Christians in Chhattisgarh with impunity during the watch of the Congress government?” Mr. Vijayan asked.
Published – 04 Apr 2026 19:41 IST
