Former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan strongly criticised Alphons Kannanthanam, the lone Minister from Kerala in the Modi government, calling his joining the government the highest possible degeneration.

“What happened to Alphons Kannanthanam is the highest possible degeneration for a fellow traveller of the Left. Such a person shouldn’t become a driving force or a tool in the hands of those who impose Fascism in a country,” the CPI (M) veteran and Chairman of Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission said in a statement issued on Sunday.

VS accused Alphons of joining the saffron camp for personal gain, and said that it was time for people to realise that the country and its politics are bigger than individual gains.

Making an indirect criticism of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, VS added that there is nothing worth congratulating in Alphons securing a Ministerial post as this is only a sign of political degeneration. Pinarayi had congratulated the Union Minister and met him at New Delhi after his swearing-in. Alphons had then said that it was Pinarayi Vijayan who had brought him into politics.

VS also urged parties of the Left front to be more cautious while picking candidates to support in elections. Alphons had entered politics in the 2006 Assembly elections as an independent candidate supported by the Left Democratic Front.

“The shift in Kannanthanam’s political affinity should make the Left Front more cautious in deciding candidates. At a time when there is no space to make compromises of any kinds, Kannanthanam has compromised with Fascism and betrayed the movement that he himself said brought him into politics," the statement said. 

Alphons was in the news soon after his swearing-in, after he made a seeming U-turn on his views on beef-eating. On September 4, he said that the Modi government was an inclusive government and did not have any plans to impose a food code in any state, including Kerala. Days later, however, he declared that tourists “can eat beef in their country and come to India”.