Thiruvananthapuram | Chief Minister V D Satheesan has asserted that entire Keralam is a secular state and that his government will strongly oppose communal and anti-women statements made by religious leaders, irrespective of their religion.

He was responding to a query on communal remarks made by certain political and religious leaders in the state including Sunni Muslim scholar Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar who said that women should stay at home, triggering criticism over the view on women's freedom.

"We have taken an adamant stand, a secular stand, when we were in the opposition and now also, that nobody should speak communal things," Satheesan told PTI Videos in an interview here.

He alleged that some political and religious leaders were trying to make Keralam communal. "We don't allow that. We don't allow that."

Satheesan also strongly spoke against regressive views on women's freedom, saying he had vehemently opposed the statement by Aboobacker suggesting that women should stay at home.

"It is not progressive, this is conservative. Women are free, it is against the freedom of women. We don't allow that," he said.

The government would oppose such statements regardless of the religion of those making them. "Any religious leaders coming up with this type of statements, we will oppose," he asserted.

Asked whether the position applied to both Muslim and Hindu religious leaders, Satheesan said the government would not make any distinction.

"Any, any religion, any religion. We are least bothered about who they are. We will oppose. Don't say like that. This is Keralam," he added.

The chief minister's remarks assume significance amid continued criticism from certain Muslim organisations over his stand against Kanthapuram's alleged anti-women remarks which triggered a widespread row in the state recently