New Delhi, May 17, 2026
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Sunday claimed that Congress selected V.D. Satheesan as the Chief Minister of Kerala due to pressure from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). He also labelled the grand old party as the “Islamic National Caliphate”, accusing it of being anti-Hindu.
Speaking to IANS, Poonawalla said: “We had already said that V.D. Satheesan is not the Chief Minister of the Congress, but was chosen as the first Chief Minister of the Muslim League, because the choice of the Congress MLAs was someone else.”
He alleged that the Congress High Command in Delhi picked Satheesan’s name due to “pressure from the Muslim League and the Jamaat”.
“The Muslim league thinks that now, since their government has come to power (in Kerala), they can do anything and want to make a Muslim Islamic Republic,” he further alleged.
He added: “The Congress, which has bowed down to the Muslim league, now must change its name from Indian National Congress to Islamic National Caliphate.”
Responding to the question regarding Congress’ stand on the Bhojshala verdict, the BJP leader reiterated the party’s anti-Hindu allegation against Congress.
Poonawalla said: “When the court delivered its verdict in favour of Hindus in the Bhojshala matter, why is the Indian National Congress so upset? The Congress party has become so anti-Hindu that even when Hindus secure their constitutional rights through the court, the party still opposes it.”
“Today, the Congress identity has become synonymous with insulting the Hindus,” he alleged.
Notably, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had accused the BJP of exploiting the Bhojshala issue to provoke a “Hindu-Muslim divide”.
Launching an attack on Singh, Poonawalla said: “When Muslims speak against Hindus and compare ‘Bhagwa’ (Saffron) and Hindus to terror… are these things not communal for Digvijaya Singh, but when a court passes an order it amounts to communalism for him.”
He further termed the Congress leader’s statement as a “remark on the judiciary”.
He alleged that Digvijaya Singh is representing the Congress party’s anti-Hindu face.
Separately, Shehzad Poonawalla accused Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee of “provoking” the public with his statement.
Banerjee had earlier accused the BJP-led Centre of misusing Central agencies and administrative machinery against the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Reacting to the same, Poonawalla said: “He (Banerjee) himself is a lawyer but still doesn’t have faith in the Supreme Court. TMC is ‘The Mazaak of Constitution’ who refused to accept defeat after the Assembly poll results.”(Agency)
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