Kerala CM calls for new resistance to save nation

Khammam (Telangana), Jan 18 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday called for a new resistance to protect the nation from the threats posed by those in power at the Centre.

Addressing a public meeting organised by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS here, he lashed out at the BJP government at the Centre saying it was undoing the very foundation of the country's democracy and the Constitution.

Claiming that the basic tenets of the Constitution are facing a series of threats from people who are at the helm of affairs, the veteran CPI-M leader called for a resistance to protect secularism, democracy and the Constitution.

He hoped that the mammoth public meeting at Khammam, the land of people's resistance, will be the beginning of a new resistance to secure the ideals that "we fought for in our freedom struggle".

Vijayan congratulated KCR for taking the initiative for "this sort of people's movement and to involve like-minded Chief Ministers and leaders and various states for better future of people and the country".

His Delhi and Punjab counterparts Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, respectively, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and CPI General Secretary D. Raja also addressed the meeting.

Vijayan alleged that the Centre was constantly trying to destroy the country's federal structure and it was using the offices of Governors to target non-BJP state governments.

He said a political formation which was not part of the national struggle for independence is in power. "The followers of those who tendered unconditional apologies to the colonisers and promised to serve the imperial crown are at the helm of affairs. They are antagonistic to the values of anti-colonial struggle like secularism, democracy, federal structure, social justice and equality," he said adding that India is built on these very values.

The Kerala Chief Minister said the Central government was consciously trying to destroy the federal structure by enacting laws on subjects in state list. He described slogans like one nation, one language, and one nation, one election as an attack on the federal structure.

He alleged that those in power at the Centre seek to alter the basic structure on which the modern nation has been built.