Kerala CM warns against malicious moves to divide people along religion, caste

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 7 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday warned against the "malicious moves" by some forces to divide people and foster conflict on religious and caste lines.

In a Facebook post, the CM said that such moves, which include threatening writers and banning books, would make society unlivable.

"There has never been a time when intolerance has so horribly stifled freedom of expression and freedom of writing. There are deliberate attempts to destabilise our progress as a society," he said.

Vijayan urged all those who love books, including writers and readers, to be vigilant against all this and resist the moves intended to destroy the unity among people.

He put up the post to mark the commencement of the week long Kerala Legislative Assembly International Book Festival (KLIBF) which will end on January 13.

Vijayan, who inaugurated the event earlier in the day, said the book festival has changed the perception that legislative assemblies are only for law making and political debates by legislators.

The book festival is being held in the legislative assembly complex here.

He further said that such festivals tell the world that books and book reading "are not dying".

"We need to ensure that books do not become distant from society due to their price and book festivals due to the high cost of organisation," Vijayan said in his post. PTI HMP SA