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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Saturday, August 23, issued a strong rebuttal to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s challenge for an open debate, countering his claims with facts and figures during a meeting in Kochi. On Friday, Shah had said that the Union government had extended special financial assistance to Kerala for disaster relief.
Responding sharply, Pinarayi said such statements were misleading and amounted to belittling the state. “Under Article 280 of the Constitution, the Union government is mandated to appoint the Finance Commission every five years. It is the Finance Commission that decides allocations for State Disaster Response Authorities, not the Central Government. To portray this constitutional entitlement as the generosity of the BJP government is factually incorrect and an affront to Kerala,” he said.
The Chief Minister reminded Shah that during the 2018 floods, considered the worst in a century, several foreign nations had offered to assist Kerala. “However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declined the offers, citing policy constraints. Even appeals from the Kerala government to accept contributions from expatriate Malayalis were denied. Ironically, when PM Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, external aid had been accepted for that state following a major disaster,” the CM said.
He further highlighted that despite damage assessments running into thousands of crores, such as the Rs 2,221 crore losses estimated during the Wayanad -Meppadi landslide, Kerala did not receive even a single rupee in direct Central aid. “To claim otherwise is nothing short of exaggeration. We survived because of our unity and resilience, creating a model of self-reliance,” he added.
CM Pinarayi also accused the Union government of imposing an “economic blockade” against Kerala, creating difficulties but failing to weaken its resolve. “We never abandoned a single welfare or development programme, nor will we in the future,” he said.
Responding to Shah’s political prediction that the BJP would win 25% of the votes in the next local body polls and come to power in the state, Pinarayi said, “Dreaming is not forbidden. But the people of Kerala know that voting for the BJP means losing Kerala’s cultural identity. That is why they have consistently rejected the party here.
The Chief Minister also expressed concern over the Union government’s new bill that could unseat elected leaders, including prime ministers and chief ministers, if they face imprisonment. Calling it a “dangerous move,” Pinarayi warned that it was an attempt to destabilise governments and must be taken seriously.