M Swaraj Accuses UDF of ‘Serial Subservience’ to Sangh Parivar, Says Congress Wins and BJP Governs

Thiruvananthapuram: CPI(M) State Secretariat member M Swaraj has accused the UDF government of dusting off and embracing the PM SHRI scheme that the LDF government had formally abandoned, calling it a direct challenge to Keralam. Speaking at a press conference, Swaraj said what Keralam is witnessing is Congress winning elections while BJP governs — and that the UDF leadership that once vowed to throw PM SHRI into the Sea is now carrying it on its head.

Swaraj charged that to justify this U-turn, the UDF is spreading outright falsehoods — claiming the LDF government had signed onto PM SHRI and received funds under the scheme. Not a single cent was received by Keralam under the PM SHRI scheme, he said. No decisions were taken on which schools would be included. A special delegation led by the Education Minister had personally conveyed Keralam's rejection of the scheme to the Union Minister, and on November 12, 2025, the LDF government formally wrote to the Centre stating it would not implement PM SHRI and that the MoU should be treated as withdrawn.

He clarified that what the UDF is falsely presenting as PM SHRI funds is actually a tranche of the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) arrears — money that Kerala and other states are entitled to as a matter of right, but which the Centre had frozen since 2023–24 using the PM SHRI non-signature as a pretext.

Swaraj also catalogued what he described as a pattern of Sangh Parivar subservience since the UDF assumed office — the full rendition of Vande Mataram at the swearing-in ceremony, the appointment of a Sangh-sympathising civil servant as the Chief Minister's Secretary, the absence of any criticism of the Centre in the policy address for the first time in a decade, the induction of an RSS-linked Vice Chancellor at MG University, the saffronisation of campuses, and the silence of both the Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister throughout. He reminded that the current Local Self-Government Minister had campaigned saying PM SHRI would be thrown into the sea if the UDF came to power, and that P K Kunhalikutty had also publicly pledged to not implement it.

Swaraj demanded that the UDF leadership apologise to Keralam for proceeding with PM SHRI, and warned that if the scheme is being used as a cover to saffronise Keralam's education system, secularists will resist it.