The Kerala police on Friday registered a case against the Twenty20 party chairman Sabu M Jacob under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, following a complaint filed by CPI(M) legislator P V Sreenijan alleging discrimination.
In his complaint, the legislator alleged that he was socially boycotted by the Twenty20 and its leaders several times. During a function in August, a local body president belonging to Twenty20 refused to share the dais with him, the complaint added.
Jacob has denied the allegations in the complaint, saying that it was another fabricated charge and that he will deal with it legally and politically.
In the complaint, the ruling party MLA said during a function in August in Kizhakambalam near Kochi, when he came on to the dais for a function panchayat president and two others stepped down immediately and sat with the audience, “insulting him.”
He also said, in many speeches, Sabu M Jacob personally attacked him since he was born into a Dalit family.
People familiar with the developments said police registered a case against Jacob upon the instruction of the state director general of police Anil Kant. Sreenijan is son-in-law of former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.
{{/usCountry}}People familiar with the developments said police registered a case against Jacob upon the instruction of the state director general of police Anil Kant. Sreenijan is son-in-law of former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.
{{/usCountry}}Jacob, also head of the Kitex group of industries, denied the allegations.
He said a complaint was filed five months after the incident, as mentioned by the legislator. “Since our party is not affiliated with any political party, we have taken a decision long back not to share the dais with leaders of any political outfit. There is no insult or discrimination in it,” he said, adding that recently he built three new schools spending ₹15 crore from his pocket but “leaders came and took whole credit for it.”
“After we sweat it out, we will not allow them to take credit like this,” he said.
Twenty20 is a political party floated by the corporate house (apparel giant) Kitex group. It swept to power in a tiny village, Kizhakambalam, for the first time in the 2015 local body poll and repeated its winning streak in 2020 and widened its base. For a politically- informed state, its victory was a major irritant in the vibrant political clime.
In 2021 assembly elections, it fielded 8 candidates in Ernakulam district and 6 candidates came third.
Though all dub Twenty20 a “CSR party” (funded by the corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund of Kitex Group), its growth worried other parties, and there were many attempts to run it down also, the above-mentioned people said.
Last year, Jacob relocated some of his factories to Telengana, alleging harassment by government agencies.
In May this year, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi chief minister Aravind Kejriwal addressed a rally of Twenty20 in Kizhakambalam and announced his party’s plan to work with Twenty20.
Struggling to get a foothold in south India, the AAP found a way for its southern rollout, and both decided to fight the 2024 general elections and 2025 Kerala assembly elections together.