Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister and Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), is the lead campaigner for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the Assembly polls. Seeking the mandate for a return to power, he started off the front’s campaign in Wayanad early this week and was in Malappuram when The Hindu caught up with him. Excerpts from the interview:

How is it going?

It’s just the start, but the response has been overwhelming and the crowds have been huge all along — something that would be generally seen closer to the polling day. A change is visible even in constituencies deemed to be the stronghold of the Indian Union Muslim League. There are some real good candidates with wider acceptance and that will show in the outcome.

You have said that KIIFB’s role in aiding development made it a target

There’s a tacit understanding between the Congress, the United Democratic Front by extension, and the BJP. You can see this from the way they raise the same set of issues the same day. The people have seen through this, as their arguments run contrary to facts. That’s why they sought the Centre’s help in letting loose its agencies on us.

The agencies are used for political gain. The move against the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) is part of this. It’s actually against the people of Kerala and development, as KIIFB aided so many projects: schools, hospitals, transgrid project, K-FON, coastal and hill highways and so on. Projects worth ₹63,000 crore have been taken up.

So the collusive forces are trying to subvert development. Come to think of it, even the great calamities couldn’t do that! The State government is taking legal recourse against these agencies. They may do everything up their sleeve but will still fall short. It’s our Leftist culture that helped us transform Kerala into a least corrupt State.

What’s the reality behind RSS ideologue R. Balashankar’s allegation of a CPI(M)-BJP nexus and BJP leader O. Rajagopal’s revelation of a Congress-BJP collusion?

Balashankar’s allegation is childish. The CPI(M) defeated the BJP State president in the Chengannur byelection. The feat was repeated in Konni. We don’t need to seek any communal alliance to secure seats. But Rajagopal has cleared the air and admitted to himself being a beneficiary of the Congress-BJP alliance. We did well in Nemom last time and hope to recapture it now.

You unsuccessfully tried to mediate the dispute in the Malankara Church. Will it affect the Left’s poll prospects?

I don’t see it affecting the Left in the polls. We wanted them to resolve the issues through discussions and spoke to them together and separately. We had no ill intentions. That’s why when the burial issue came up, without anyone asking, we took a decision which was welcomed by all. But an Ordinance is not the route to be taken on all occasions.

Sabarimala has been a talking point since 2018 and a frenzy has been drummed up around it

Sabarimala issue doesn’t exist now. The Supreme Court took a stance which it relaxed later and we are also approaching the issue accordingly. People are now going to Sabarimala every month and on special occasions. The festival was also held. There hasn’t been an issue. It is a non-issue for the believers.

The government has maintained that when the final verdict of the Supreme Court comes, if the believers have an issue with that, a stance will be taken then in consultation with all stakeholders.

What’s the national import of this election?

The forces that are trying to safeguard secularism and the Constitution, which are under threat, are keenly watching the LDF government as Kerala has protected both.

The labourers, the farmers and all others protesting globalisation and liberalised policies are also watching us as Kerala is the only State that’s not pursuing these policies. The election outcome will have an impact on them as well. It is also a fight against communalism.