Thiruvananthapuram: CPI(M) leader A K Balan on Saturday said if the Congress-led UDF comes to power in Kerala with the backing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, it will result in the "destruction of the state".
Balan, at a press conference held here, said that he will keep repeating this warning again and again.
The CPI(M) leader also held up a copy of the 'Quran' and said it talks about 'munafiks' who are "fake believers".
"I am not that. I am a believer and a communist who is loyal to the workers," he said, and added that if he is sent to jail for defamation over his remarks about the Jamaat-e-Islami, the first thing he would do is finish reading the Quran.
He was speaking to reporters in the wake of a legal notice sent to him by the Jamaat-e-Islami and the vehement criticism against him by Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan over the CPI(M) veteran's remarks linking the UDF with the religious organisation.
Satheesan had termed Balan's remarks as "dangerous and communal”.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, the state chapter of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, had on Wednesday sent a legal notice to Balan demanding Rs 1 crore as compensation, alleging that his remarks against it were derogatory and defamatory.
On Saturday, in response to the legal notice, Balan said that everything attributed to him in it is "baseless and misleading, and intends to insult, condemn and defame him and the CPI(M) before the general public".
He claimed that in his over 60 years of public work, he has always spoken out against fascism and communalism to protect the minorities and never made any non-secular remarks.