Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday hailed the ouster of the BJP from its only southern bastion saying that the people of Karnataka gave a “befitting” reply to the saffron party and the election results herald a positive future for the entire country.

Reacting to Saturday’s Kerala Assembly poll results in which the incumbent BJP managed to secure a meagre 66 seats, while the Congress registered a majority victory by winning 135 seats in the 224-seat Assembly, CM Vijayan claimed that the people kicked out the BJP as they were fed up with the right-wing party’s rule and now there’s no BJP regime in any south Indian state.

Pinarayi Vijayan said that despite BJP pulling out all the big guns including Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigning in Karnataka for 10 days and literally asking the people to vote for his party, the BJP came up short by a wide margin.

This clearly shows that the people were fed up with the BJP rule and voted them out of power.

However, the Chief Minister also warned the Congress to learn from past mistakes and not take the BJP lightly as the saffron party will not remain content being in the opposition and will do everything in its power to attempt a coup.

Read Also: Patiala woman shot dead for consuming alcohol inside gurdwara

The CM noted that in the past the BJP in Karnataka has tried to wrest power in the state despite losing the election and some turncoat Congress MLAs had supported their bid, adding that the grand old party’s leadership should be wary and not allow the repeat of such attempts.

Pinarayi Vijayan, who is a vociferous critic and opponent of the BJP, claimed that the currently there’s a strong anti-BJP feeling prevailing across the country that the right-wing party should not get a third term at the Centre.

Vijayan observed that the Congress has changed for the better and isn’t the same party which ruled the country with an absolute majority in the Parliament and according to its whims, adding that current goal of every opposition party should be oust the BJP from power at the Centre.

CM Vijayan said that BJP getting a third term at the Centre will “spell disaster for the country” and as such anti-BJP votes should be consolidated from each state. Karnataka election results will boost such attempts, he added.

Illicit liquor kills 10 in Tamil Nadu, police officials suspended

Karnataka CM race: Congress MLAs meet, Delhi to decide

The makers of The Kerala Story claimed that India had been in “denial” of the existence of the “long existing issue” in Kerala as the controversial film was released in over 200 theatres in the United States and Canada on Friday.

Speaking to a group of Indian American reporters during a virtual presser, Sudipto Sen, the director of the polarising film called  The Kerala Story a “mission” and a “movement” which must reach masses across the world to raise awareness.

Sen claimed that India had been in denial of the “long existing issue” in Kerala and his film is the first to shed light on the subject.

The film’s producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah voiced similar thoughts saying that the subject that is “exposed’ in The Kerala Story has been hidden from the people and deserved to be told, adding that they made the movie to initiate a worldwide deliberation on the Kerala issue.

Vipul Shah termed The Kerala Story a “very bold, honest and true” film that got no support in the beginning but has witnessed blockbuster-level success within a mere week of its release and now stands on the verge of a worldwide release.

‘The Kerala Story’ has sparked a massive controversy since its first trailer—which claimed that 32,000 women from the state were converted to Islam and recruited by global terror group Islamic State—  hit the screens in November last year.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who has vehemently opposed the film, recently termed it as a “deliberately produced” piece of Sangh Parivar propaganda aimed to create communal divide and spread hatred among Hindus and Muslims in the state.

The film was issued an ‘A’ certificate by the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and told to delete 10 scenes, including an interview with a former chief minister of Kerala, ahead of its theatrical release.

The BJP has vociferously backed the Sudipto Sen directorial with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising the film for “exposing a terror conspiracy” and accusing the Congress of “siding with terrorists” and trying to appease them for political gain by opposing the film’s release.

BJP chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Yogi Adityanath have declared the film tax-free in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Meanwhile, the opposition has vehemently opposed the Adah Sharma-starrer, dubbing it as a piece of Sangh Parivar-backed propaganda piece aimed to stir communal tensions and polarize the BJP’s vote bank ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

On Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee banned the screening of the controversial Bollywood film in the state, while on May 7 (Sunday), multiplexes in Tamil Nadu had stopped screenings of the ‘The Kerala Story’ citing law and order threats and poor response to the movie from the audience in the southern state.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea challenging the Kerala High Court’s interim order which refused to ban the release of Adah Sharma-starrer. The hearing is listed on May 15.

Pictures from Kerala’s road safety cameras disrupted the marriage of an Idukki man after high-resolution photos clicked by the traffic cams, which showed a woman friend riding pillion on his scooter, were sent to his wife’s mobile number.

According to reports, the high-end road cameras captured the man riding his scooter without a helmet along with a woman on April 25, and as the vehicle is registered in his wife‘s name, the Kerala Motor Vehicle Department sent the high-res pictures along with the details of the violation by the man and the fine to be paid, in a message on her mobile number.

The pictures led to an argument among the couple as the wife questioned her husband about the woman who was seen riding pillion with him on the scooter.

The 32-year-old man tried to reason with his wife, claiming that the woman seen in the traffic camera pictures had merely hitched a ride with him and he did not have any relationship with her. However, the wife refused to believe him, leading to an argument between the couple following which she filed a police complaint against him on May 5, accusing her husband of manhandling her and their three-year old toddler.

Read Also: Stalin govt files defamation suit against Tamil Nadu BJP chief

Based on the complaint, the husband, an Idukki native who works at a textile shop in Thiruvananthapuram, was arrested by the police and later produced before court which remanded him to judicial custody.

A senior police official said based on the wife’s complaint, the man was booked under IPC 321 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 294 (obscene acts) and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act (assault or neglect of child).

The installation of high-end traffic cameras to monitor road safety has been the root of a political slugfest between the Opposition Congress and the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government with the former accusing the LDF regime of graft in contracts related to the installation of the devices under the ‘Safe Kerala’ road safety project.

Karnataka Assembly Election 2023: Congress ahead in exit polls, hung house possibilities beat BJP chances

Wrestlers protest: Olympian Sakshi Malik challenges Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh to undergo lie detector test