AFP
Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac delivered a budget speech with sharp political overtones in the state assembly yesterday, declaring that the entire state stands united against the BJP-led centre’s Citizenship Amendment Act. Significantly, the cover of the budget document he held in his hand bore a painting that depicted Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Thomas Isaac said that the painting, artist Tom Vattakuzhy’s “Death of Gandhi”, was meant to send a message to the centre. “The message is: Yes, we remember. That Mahatma was murdered, murdered by Hindu communalists who are revered today by the ruling party and the central government,” Thomas Isaac told mediapersons. “We are saying: ‘We will remember it, people will not forget’.”