PTI
Thiruvananthapuram
Kerala saw a heated political showdown on Monday as state ministers led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to the streets with a Satyagraha, accusing the BJP-led Centre of squeezing the state financially.
What followed was a war of words, with the BJP hitting back hard and the Congress keeping its distance, turning the issue into a three-cornered political battle.
Standing before party leaders, ministers and supporters at the Martyrs’ Column in Palayam here, Vijayan said Kerala had been pushed into an “extraordinary struggle” to protect its rights.
He told the gathering that the Centre was trying to “snatch away” what the Constitution had guaranteed to the states.
According to him, this was not just about money, but about dignity, federalism and democracy.
“This is a struggle for the survival of this land and its people. Believing that all authority rests in their hands, the rulers at the Centre are arbitrarily usurping our rights,” Vijayan said, a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that the funds given to the state during the NDA period were more than three times
higher than what it received during the Congress-led UPA period.
“The present situation has compelled us to take to struggle in order to protect those rights. This is an extraordinary and grave circumstance,” the veteran CPI(M) leader said. He said the Union government was treating Kerala with bias and political vengeance.
The cuts in grants and borrowing limits, he claimed, were meant to choke the state financially.
Vijayan pointed out that Kerala was supposed to get Rs 12,000 crore between January and March, but was denied Rs 5,900 crore without any clear reason. This, he said, had made it difficult for the government to pay bills and run welfare schemes smoothly.
The CM also accused the Union government of centralising power and using money to reward states ruled by friendly parties while punishing opposition-ruled states like Kerala.
He reminded the people of how Kerala was denied permission to receive foreign aid during the 2018 floods and how support was lacking after the Wayanad landslide. These were, Vijayan said, clear examples of discrimination.
Rejecting claims of financial mismanagement, he said the state had continued to invest in welfare, development and jobs despite financial pressure.
Taking on Amit Shah’s claim that Kerala received more funds under the Modi government, Vijayan said tax devolution was not a gift, but a constitutional right. He accused the Centre of interfering with the Finance Commission and quoted NITI Aayog CEO B V R Subrahmanyam.
