The Kerala unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday criticised Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his recent remarks supporting Iran in the ongoing conflict in West Asia, alleging that the statement reflected his “appeasement politics”.

Addressing a press conference here, BJP State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Mr. Vijayan’s remarks were seen as being supportive of Iran, while he remained silent on attacks against Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, where large number of Keralites reside.

“Why are you speaking only about Iran? Isn’t it part of your appeasement politics? Why are you not condemning attacks made by Iran,” he asked.

Pointing out that the Union government is not against Iran, Mr. Chandrasekhar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already made it clear that war is not a solution for anything. If there is any dispute, it should be resolved diplomatically and that is the established stand of the Government of India and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he said.

He also said that it was the Union government that had given permission to an Iranian ship to safely anchor in Kochi.

Mr. Chandrasekhar further said it was not the Iranian people, but Keralites who had given mandate to the Pinarayi Vijayan government.

The BJP chief also urged Mr. Vijayan to talk about what he had done for the people of Kerala in the last 10 years instead of speaking about Iran, Syria, or Gaza, “to divert the attention of the public.”