A memorial meeting for M.P. Veerendrakumar, former State president, Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD), on the Kozhikode beach on Sunday evening turned out to be a platform that called for an alliance between socialists and communists against the attack on secularism and the federal structure enshrined in the Constitution by the BJP-led Union government.
Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, and Kerala Power Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader K. Krishnankutty, were among those present.
Opening the public meeting, Mr. Vijayan criticised the way in which the new Parliament building was opened in New Delhi on Sunday. “What happened today should not have happened in a country that calls itself a secular republic. The Union government performed a religious ritual in what should have been a public event. There have also been criticisms against how the President of India was not associated with it,” he said.
