‘Ask Revanth Reddy’: Pinarayi Vijayan hits back at Chennithala over Kerala’s MDMA seizures
Chennithala’s criticism suggested that the focus during the LDF era, however, was not on tackling the root of the synthetic drug supply chain but on apprehending end users
Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of the Opposition in Kerala, has strongly criticized Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala's assertion that the previous LDF government failed to seize significant quantities of MDMA, presenting evidence of substantial drug seizures and successful anti-narcotics operations under their tenure.
Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of the Opposition in Kerala, has strongly criticized Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala's assertion that the previous LDF government failed to seize significant quantities of MDMA, presenting evidence of substantial drug seizures and successful anti-narcotics operations under their tenure.
Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of the Opposition in Kerala, has strongly criticized Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala's assertion that the previous LDF government failed to seize significant quantities of MDMA, presenting evidence of substantial drug seizures and successful anti-narcotics operations under their tenure.
Kerala Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has slammed Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala’s statement that, during the last decade, the LDF government “could not seize even 500 grams of MDMA."
“At the very least, if the home minister had asked Telangana Chief Minister and Congress leader Revanth Reddy, he could have learned about the drug seizures carried out during the LDF government’s tenure,” Vijayan noted in a social media post.
During Pinarayi Vijayan’s second government, a dedicated anti-narcotics programme, Operation D-Hunt, was in operation. Chennithala’s criticism suggested that the focus during the LDF era, however, was not on tackling the root of the synthetic drug supply chain but on apprehending end users.
After the UDF came to power, a new programme, Operation Thoofan, was launched in early June. As per the latest figures, the statewide inspections have so far resulted in the arrest of 10,680 people and a total of 9,896 cases have been registered. Officials have also seized 21,373.931 grams of MDMA and 1,140.245 kg of cannabis through this operation.
The Kerala Police recently made the largest-ever MDMA seizure in its history, recovering 12.7 kg of MDMA, worth around ₹10 crore in the retail market, in an operation in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Notably, a 97-gram MDMA seizure in Malappuram led investigators to the larger consignment. Following the operation, Chennithala asserted that Operation Thoofan was targeting the root of a major mafia network involved in smuggling synthetic drugs into Kerala.
Vijayan, however, asserts that his government had also made significant efforts to curb the inflow of synthetic drugs. “In July 2024, while tracing the source of 2.4 kg of MDMA seized in Thrissur, the Kerala Police discovered and shut down an international drug-manufacturing laboratory being operated by a film producer in Kukatpally, Hyderabad. Chemicals were also seized with the assistance of forensic experts. The Kerala Police accomplished there what Revanth Reddy, who is governing the state, could not,” Vijayan noted.
The LoP also said that Central government records submitted in Parliament made it clear that the LDF government’s anti-drug efforts were exemplary.
“According to a reply given by the Union Finance Minister in the Lok Sabha on February 3, 2025, Kerala has taken the strongest action against drugs since 2022. The number of arrests in drug cases in Kerala was three times that of the state with the second-highest number of arrests. Although Kerala is far behind in terms of drug use, these figures testify that the state’s efforts to prevent the spread of narcotics are a model for the country. According to a reply given by the Central government in the Rajya Sabha on December 22, 2022, Kerala’s conviction rate in NDPS cases was more than 98 per cent. Kerala had achieved this when the national average was 78 per cent. In Telangana, the rate was only 25 per cent,” Vijayan noted.
From 2021 to 2025, the Kerala Police alone registered 126,855 NDPS cases. Vijayan noted that there was a 538 per cent increase in the registration of cases after Operation D-Hunt was launched.
He also noted that the Excise Department had registered 41,946 NDPS cases and 418,403 COTPA cases in Kerala over the past five years, and had seized 17,587.4335 kg of cannabis, 33,419.996 grams of MDMA, 65,943.8254 grams of hashish, and 160,597.093 kg of COTPA products.
“The Kerala Excise Department’s seizure of 80 kg of MDMA from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2023, the seizure of 5 kg of MDMA in Kochi in 2018, and the major drug seizures made by the Excise Department during 2022–2025, including Operation D-Hunt, demonstrate the strong interventions of the LDF government,” Vijayan noted. These exemplary achievements, Vijayan argued, are what the present Home Minister is now attempting to belittle through his criticism.
“The Opposition has never opposed Operation Thoofan or the drug seizures carried out under it. We extended our full support,” Vijayan added, while accusing the government of making high-level attempts to sabotage an international MDMA case in which the Chief Minister V.D. Satheeshan’s social media coordinator was allegedly an accused.
“When we expose this hypocrisy, the Home Department and the minister are trying to portray it as criticism of the drug crackdown and thereby evade the real issue,” he noted.