After Amit Shah's 7 Questions, Kerala Chief Minister Has Some Of His Own

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has shot back with some questions at Home Minister Amit Shah a day after the BJP leader asked seven questions over allegations that the Kerala government was linked to gold and dollar smuggling cases.

Mr Shah had raised questions over the gold and dollar smuggling cases with alleged links to the ruling Left government, according to probe agencies. The customs department recently told the Kerala High Court that the accused "has made shocking revelations against the Chief Minister, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and some ministers".

In his response today, Mr Vijayan said the BJP leader's comments have "insulted Kerala".

"Amit Shah's campaign insulted Kerala. He said Kerala is a land of corruption. We must remember that several agencies have certified that Kerala is among the least corrupt in India. But Congress also did not object to the statement because both are one," the Chief Minister said.

Mr Vijayan asked his own set of questions to the ones raised by Mr Shah, all linked to the gold smuggling case.

"Isn't a known Sangh Parivar person one of the main conspirators of gold smuggled in diplomatic baggage? Don't you know this? Isn't customs fully responsible to stop anti-national activities like smuggling of gold? Isn't Thiruvananthapuram airport entirely under central government? How did Thiruvananthapuram airport become a hub of gold smuggling since BJP came to power? Amit Shah must answer," the Chief Minister said.

"Weren't Sangh Parivar people appointed intentionally to various posts at Thiruvananthapuram airport to facilitate gold smuggling? The probe was going towards the right way. Wasn't the probe direction changed when it was pointing towards your own people? Wasn't it your party channel's head who prompted the accused to say this wasn't a diplomatic baggage?" Mr Vijayan said.

"...Wasn't it to derail the probe that officials including Joint Commissioner of Customs were transferred overnight? Has the person who sent the gold been questioned in eight months? Isn't it only because central government is not interested that such a person has not been questioned by probe agencies? Why so little interest?" the Chief Minister said.

"...Aren't you aware of the leaked audio clip alleging that the probe agencies put pressure on the accused to take the name of the Chief Minister?" Mr Vijayan said.

Mr Vijayan has alleged central probe agencies are being used by the BJP-led centre to torpedo the state election, an allegation BJP leaders have rubbished.

The National Investigation Agency, the Enforcement Directorate and the customs are conducting separate investigations into the gold smuggling case that was busted at Thiruvananthapuram airport on July 5 last year.

The long set of questions that Mr Shah asked on Sunday were: "Were the main accused of the dollar gold scam working in your office, working under you or not, yes or no? Did your government give the accused a monthly salary of... 3 lakh, yes or no? Did your main secretary give a fake certificate and an important post to the woman under a government programme, yes or no? Was this accused woman taken by you or your officials on foreign trips, yes or no? Did this accused woman visit your official residence? People want to know did she visit or not? When illegal gold was found at the airport, did your office put pressure on customs, yes or no? ED (Enforcement Directorate) and customs officials have been attacked. Has this been probed in detail, yes or no? Has a probe been done regarding a suspicious death?"

Elections in Kerala will be held in a single phase on April 6.