THRISSUR: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the approach of blaming a community for crimes in Malappuram district, including hawala money and gold smuggling, is not acceptable and that crimes should be viewed in that manner. The Chief Minister was inaugurating the election convention of LDF candidate U.R. Pradeep in Chelakkara.

"Some people are claiming that I made an attempt to portray Malappuram in a bad light falsely. Such claims would only serve to fuel communal divisions. It was the Sangh Parivar that made such attempts. The Congress also joined hands with them. The EMS government tried to address the backwardness of Malappuram district. The Congress is now aligned with the Sangh Parivar, which then addressed Malappuram as 'mini Pakistan'," the CM said.

"The Kozhikode Airport is located in Karipur, Malappuram district. Many people travel through it, and crimes reported there are accounted for in Malappuram district's statistics. What's the problem with that? In the last three years, 147.7 kg of gold was seized. Out of this, 124 kg and ₹88.22 crore out of ₹122.5 crore counterfeit money seized since 2020 came via Karipur. When one mentions this, how does it become criticising Malappuram? It is a natural step to be taken by the government against illegal activities. However, some people are claiming that the government did something that should not be done. Some people organised rallies. Are you saying that the government should not take action against illegal activities?" the CM said.

CPI District Secretary KK Valsaraj presided over the event. Ministers R Bindu, K Krishnankutty, Kadanappally Ramachandran, Mohammed Riyas, V Abdul Rahman, and other leaders including CPM state secretary MV Govindan, CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam, LDF Convener TP Ramakrishnan, MPs K Radhakrishnan, Thomas Isaac, KT Jaleel, and CS Sujatha participated.