Referred to Rahul Gandhi’s old name due to his recent statements helping BJP: Pinarayi Vijayan

“That is why I said he should not go back to his old name,” he said at a press meet held in Kannur.

Vijayan was responding to a reporter’s query regarding the correctness of him making such a remark when in the past the CPI(M) had taken a stand against such personal attacks.

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The remarks

Vijayan had referred to Gandhi’s old name on 19 April, a day after the Congress leader had wondered why the Marxist veteran was not jailed by the BJP government at the Centre, unlike two other chief ministers of Opposition-ruled states.

Vijayan was apparently referring to former chief minister VS Achuthanandan’s remarks a decade ago against Gandhi calling him an “Amul Baby”.

The Kerala chief minister, during his press meet on Tuesday, also justified the allegedly objectionable remarks made by LDF MLA P V Anvar against Gandhi. Vijayan said that the Congress leader should realise that when he says something, “he will receive it back in kind.”

“He does not have such a stature that he will not get any response for his remarks,” the communist party veteran said in response to a query on the issue by a reporter.

Anvar recently had allegedly referred to Gandhi as a “fourth class citizen”, someone who is not eligible to use the Gandhi suffix along with his name and that the Congress leader should “undergo a DNA test”.

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