Pinarayi slams Rahul for drawing equivalence between LDF and Hindutva forces in Chhattisgarh

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday slammed the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, for accusing the Left Democratic Front (LDF) of being hand-in-glove with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose government in Chhattisgarh was responsible for the “unjust incarceration” of two Kerala nuns on “bigoted” charges of forced conversion and trafficking of tribal women in July, 2025.

Mr. Vijayan said Mr. Gandhi’s “brazenly misleading” statement smacked of an “impudence stemming from social and political illiteracy and ignorance”.

The Chhattisgarh Police’s arrest and subsequent remand of the nuns, Sister Preeti Mary and Sister Vandana Francis, who were illegally detained and harangued for hours at the Durg railway station by Bajrang Dal activists, had triggered national outrage and strong protests in Kerala.

Congress’ role

Mr. Vijayan said the nuns were arrested under the provisions of the Freedom of Religion Act, a “bequest” of the Congress governments which ruled Madhya Pradesh in the decades preceding the creation of the State of Chhattisgarh.

Mr. Vijayan recalled that Congress leader Ajith Jogi was the first Chief Minister of the newly formed State. He said Mr. Jogi refused to invalidate the discriminatory law, which outlawed “forcible” conversion.

The 2024 election manifesto of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had demanded the withdrawal of the patently anti-Christian law, which sought to target missionaries, including the clergy involved in charitable work for the benefit of the larger public.

Mr. Vijayan noted that Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh were conspicuously absent when the CPI(M) national leaders protested outside the Durg prison in order to meet the nuns, both senior citizens plagued by chronic illnesses, and ensure they got medical care and proper nourishment.

Mr. Vijayan said the Congress’ “complacency and ideological ambiguity” in politically resisting Hindu majoritarian forces, including their trespasses on minorities, paved the way for the ascendancy of the Sangh Parivar-backed BJP in India.

Mr. Vijayan noted that the Congress was in power when Sangh Parivar forces brutalised thousands of tribal Christians, disrupted prayer meetings and vandalised churches during the 2022-23 Christmas celebrations in Chhattisgarh.

“Mr. Gandhi was at the apex of the Congress national leadership. Was he on leave when Hindutva forces targeted Christians in Chhattisgarh with impunity during the Congress government’s watch?” Mr. Vijayan asked.