Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 9 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that the responsibility for preventing gold smuggling lies with the Customs Department, which operates under the Union Finance Ministry, and not with the state government.
In a letter addressed to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Vijayan urged the Governor to raise the matter with the central government.
The Chief Minister’s letter came in response to Khan’s letter a day earlier, in which he accused Vijayan of ‘silence, inaction, and inordinate delay’ regarding his request for information about reports regarding alleged anti-national and anti-state activities in the state funded by groups involving gold smuggling.
“It should be appreciated that the arrival of gold escaping scrutiny at the airport is due to laxity on the part of the Customs Department and not of the State Government. Hence, responsibility of the arrival of duty evaded gold does not lie with the State Government,” Vijayan said in the letter.
Vijayan said while preventing smuggling is primarily the duty of Customs, the state police have been vigilant due to the related issues of law and order and tax evasion.
The state police act when they receive reliable information, even though preventing smuggling is not their direct responsibility, the Chief Minister said.
Reacting to the Governor’s allegations, the CM said there has been no deliberate or inordinate delay on his part for providing information sought by the Raj Bhavan and clarified that the time taken was to gather the required facts.
“The allegations in your goodself’s letter dated 8th October, 2024, of having something for me to hide is wholly unwarranted. I take strong exception to the said statement and, with utmost respect, place my protest before your goodself for making such farfetched and baseless allegations,” Vijayan said.
Referring to the Governor’s concerns regarding his alleged silence and inaction about supposed anti-national activities in the state over the past three years, Vijayan said that there was no mention of any such activities in any of his public statements, contrary to the claims made by Khan.
He said that the Governor may have either misunderstood the facts or received a distorted version of the situation.
“There was absolutely no mention about any anti-national or anti-State activities going on in the State in any public statement made by me, contrary to the attribution made to me by your goodself. I am constrained to say that your goodself have either misconceived the facts or have been provided with a distorted version of the actual facts,” the letter said.
The CM claimed that the Governor had incorrectly assumed information based on reports from his media conference on September 21, 2024, and comments allegedly made during an interview. Vijayan said that these assumptions do not accurately reflect his statements or positions.
The Chief Minister clarified that during his media conference on September 21, 2024, he provided only statistical information regarding the State Police’s interception and seizure of smuggled gold at various airports in Kerala. He emphasised that the press briefing focused on the actions taken by police authorities in this matter.
“Gold smuggling is an activity which jeopardises the national economy and also is one of the causes of tax leakage to the Union and the State. I made a general statement in the press briefing that the said activities are crimes against the Nation and that the State Government is determined to take stern and stringent action against such tendencies,” the Chief Minister said.
Vijayan also reiterated his stance regarding the Governor’s actions in instructing officials to appear before him without informing the Chief Minister.
In a letter dated October 8, Vijayan expressed his discontent with this approach.
He stated that he does not wish to engage in further debate on the matter, emphasising that his position has already been clearly communicated.
“I reiterate my position taken in my letter dated 8th October, 2024, on your goodself’s action in directing officials to appear while keeping the Chief Minister of the State in the dark. I do not intend to enter into a continued debate with your goodself on this, as I have made my position amply clear,” he said in the letter.
Khan wrote to the Chief Minister on Tuesday in response to Vijayan’s earlier letter, stating that officials cannot be summoned by the Governor without informing the elected government.
The Chief Minister’s letter had referred to Khan seeking a briefing from Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan and DGP Shaik Darvesh Saheb regarding Vijayan’s recent remarks that groups are smuggling gold into the state and using the proceeds for “anti-national activities. PTI TGB TGB ROH
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