Kasaragod(Kerala) | Congress leader V D Satheesan on Saturday accused the BJP of being "wolves in sheepskin" who go with cakes to Bishops' homes and churches on Christmas, but come out with legislations like FCRA amendment bill that affect the Christian community.
Satheesan, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, claimed that the proposed amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act provide that the central government can decline to renew licences, for any reason, of entities receiving funds from abroad.
Such an establishment, whose licence has not been renewed, and its assets can be taken over by the Centre, he contended.
Speaking to reporters in Kasaragod, he said that Union minister Suresh Gopi should read the proposed amendments in the Bill.
Gopi had recently claimed that the amendment was not targeted at any particular religion or community, but aimed at safeguarding the interests and properties of the people of the country.
Satheesan said that the FCRA was enacted by the Congress to prevent illegal foreign contributions, but the latest proposed amendments were "dangerous" as they are allegedly aimed at taking over assets of minority communities.
"Soon they will come with a Church Bill, just like they came with the amendments to the Waqf Act," he claimed.
"They come here like wolves in sheepskin, acting as genuine persons, and give cakes, while at the Centre they come with such legislations," Satheesan said.
Satheesan also attacked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the issue of the CPI(M) accepting support of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political wing of banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI).
He said that according to the CPI(M) party congress, SDPI is an extremist organisation.
"But the CM and the party's state secretary are willing to take their support to win," he alleged.
He also alleged that the CM, who attacked the Congress over the support to it from the Welfare Party of India, was silent on the SDPI, PDP and RSS backing the Left front and said that it showed Vijayan's "hypocrisy".
The opposition leader further claimed that while the Jamaat-e-Islami supported the CPI(M) for four decades, it was a secular organisation.
"From 2019, when the Welfare Party formed by them supported the UDF (led by the Congress), they became a communal organisation. In 1977, the CPI(M) mouthpiece Deshabhimani had said that the then Jan Sangh party, backed by the RSS, was not a communal organisation." "I have all this material. That is why he (CM) is not coming for the public debate as I will show all this to him," Satheesan contended.
He also accused the LDF of unleashing violence fearing defeat in the upcoming Assembly polls on April 9.
He claimed that the attack on Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's gunman and the blocking of his vehicle on Friday evening as well as the destruction of UDF's campaign material in Kannur and other parts of the state, were part of this violence.
He said that such act will not defeat the UDF which was coming with a comprehensive plan that includes alternative projects and schemes in all the sectors where the Left government has failed.
Satheesan also termed as "untrustworthy" the various surveys which claimed that it was a close battle between the UDF and LDF.
He said that there was a huge difference between the two fronts and there was a strong anti-incumbency factor in the state which will work in favour of the UDF.
He asserted that UDF predictions about the various polls held in the last five years in Kerala have come true and this time it has predicted it will win over 100 seats in the assembly elections.
