‘Fabricated claim’: Opposition slams Kerala CM’s extreme poverty-free declaration, walks out

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition Leader VD Satheesan on Saturday dismissed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s announcement declaring Kerala free from extreme poverty as “a complete fabrication and a bundle of lies.”

Speaking to reporters after the Opposition boycotted a special Assembly session convened to mark the announcement, Satheesan said the claim was particularly hollow in light of a recent incident in which a woman living alone in Thiruvananthapuram reportedly died of starvation. “Was that woman included among the so-called extremely poor who have supposedly been lifted out of poverty?” he asked.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition PK Kunhalikutty also criticised the announcement, calling it “dangerous” and politically motivated. “The Centre already argues that several welfare benefits are unnecessary. By declaring Kerala as a state without extreme poverty, the Chief Minister is handing them an excuse to cut crucial assistance. The government is already struggling to provide existing benefits. Such false claims made ahead of elections will only worsen the situation,” he said.

Satheesan accused the government of turning the Assembly session into a “farce,” claiming that lakhs of rupees had been wasted to restate what had already been broadcast through expensive publicity campaigns. “They called 140 MLAs to Thiruvananthapuram just to have the Chief Minister read out the same propaganda. That is why the Opposition walked out,” he said.

He further alleged that the government’s figures were inconsistent. “Before the LDF came to power, the manifesto said there were 4.5 lakh extremely poor people in Kerala. How has that dropped to 64,000 overnight? The minister had earlier stated in the Assembly that there are 5,91,194 people with AAY cards under the central government’s poverty scheme. Both the CPM’s estimate and the Centre’s figures remain valid,” Satheesan said.

He also noted that the number of people under the UDF government’s Ashraya scheme for the destitute had declined, and questioned why only 6,400 of the 1.16 lakh tribal families identified in the 2011 Census were included in the new list. “Are all the remaining tribal families suddenly rich?” he asked.

“This is nothing but a PR stunt by Pinarayi Vijayan to mislead people ahead of the elections. With this false declaration, Kerala could lose access to several central government schemes meant for the poorest. The people will see through the government’s lies,” Satheesan added.

Meanwhile, Opposition members staged a walkout from the Assembly in protest over the government’s handling of the Sabarimala gold theft case.

Satheesan said the Kerala High Court had made it clear that a member of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) was involved in the theft. “The High Court has stated that a board member played a role in taking the Ayyappa Temple idol out of the shrine. They knew of the fraud, yet took no action. That’s why we are demanding the dismissal of the Devaswom Board and the resignation of the minister in charge,” he said.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has reportedly taken Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused, into custody for questioning. He was escorted from his residence in Thiruvananthapuram to a secret location in Pathanamthitta on October 17. His arrest has not yet been officially confirmed.

Earlier, the SIT raided Potti’s residence in Bengaluru as part of its probe. The case resurfaced after Potti claimed that four gold-plated panels he donated to the shrine in 2019 were missing. The TDB Vigilance unit later recovered the missing panels from his sister’s home in Thiruvananthapuram, prompting the Kerala High Court to order a comprehensive investigation into all TDB transactions involving him.

Following the court’s direction, TDB President PS Prasanth suspended Assistant Engineer K Sunil Kumar, who has been named as an accused, for his alleged role in the theft.

PTI inputs