A political furore broke out in Kerala on Tuesday after a case was filed against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and union minister of state Rajeev Chandrasekhar for promoting hatred between religious communities on social media. The development comes in the backdrop of the October 29 blasts at a Christian religious gathering that killed 3 and injured over 50.
An officer at the Ernakulam Central police station, where the FIR was filed, said the BJP leader has been booked under sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different religious groups) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 120 (o) (causing nuisance and violation of public order) of the Kerala Police Act.
“Section 153A of IPC is a non-bailable offence,” the officer said.
The FIR comes a day after chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused Chandrasekhar of spitting ‘lethal poison’ by targeting the communal harmony in the state and pitting one community against the other. Following the blasts at a convention of the Christian sect Jehovah’s Witnesses on Sunday, Chandrasekhar had posted on X, “Dirty shameless appeasement politics by a discredited chief minsiter [and home minister] Pinarayi Vijayan besieged by corruption charges. Sitting in Delhi and protesting against Israel when in Kerala open calls by terrorist Hamas for jihad is causing attacks and bomb blasts on innocent Christians.”
Reacting to the FIR filed against him, Chandrasekhar said the two parties, CPI(M) and Congress, have united against him. “Two of biggest appeasers in Indian politics who shamelessly appease poisonous radical violent organisations, like SDPI, PFI and Hamas, whose politics have caused radicalisation over decades from J&K to Punjab to Kerala and caused many innocent lives and security forces lives to be lost - trying to threaten me with a case for exposing their appeasement of Hamas,” he said. The complaint was filed by Sarin P, convenor of the digital media cell of the Congress unit in Kerala.
{{/usCountry}}Reacting to the FIR filed against him, Chandrasekhar said the two parties, CPI(M) and Congress, have united against him. “Two of biggest appeasers in Indian politics who shamelessly appease poisonous radical violent organisations, like SDPI, PFI and Hamas, whose politics have caused radicalisation over decades from J&K to Punjab to Kerala and caused many innocent lives and security forces lives to be lost - trying to threaten me with a case for exposing their appeasement of Hamas,” he said. The complaint was filed by Sarin P, convenor of the digital media cell of the Congress unit in Kerala.
{{/usCountry}}Additionally, a case has been booked against BJP national secretary Anil K Antony for promoting religious hatred. The case has been registered in connection with his now-deleted social media post on a video of burqa-clad girls stopping a bus in Kumbala.