Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 26 (IANS): Kerala BJP president K. Surendran on Thursday slammed the state tourism minister P. A. Mohammed Riyas for playing appeasement politics by pleasing the Muslim community here by clearing a proposal for a documentary on the importance of the Muslim religion and its history in Kerala. Riyas is the son-in-law of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

“A sum of Rs 94 lakhs has been sanctioned for this and this is done targeting the Muslim population ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. What all should understand is that Kerala is not just made up of Muslims alone as Kerala’s history is made up of Hindus and Christians also. Just doing a documentary on the role played by one particular religion is unfair as this is done using the taxpayers' money,” said Surendran. “ I call upon CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechuri who claims to be the foremost leader of secularism to come clean on this and I wish to know if he feels there has been no role played by Hindus and Christians in building Kerala. Why has there been no such attempt to do a documentary on them,” asked Surendran.

“Riyas is being portrayed as the next chief minister and the CPI-M is trying to please the Muslim community here through this,” added Surendran.