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‘Unacceptable’: Kerala governor slams Jaleel over Kashmir remarks
Meanwhile, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad submitted a fresh complaint against Jaleel to the Thiruvananthapuram police commissioner on Sunday, seeking strict against him. Three complaints were already filed against Jaleel in Kerala (two) and Delhi (one), respectively, on Saturday.
Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan termed the recent remarks of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) legislator K T Jaleel on Jammu and Kashmir as unfortunate and unacceptable on Sunday . The governor said he was hurt and anguished over the remarks.
“It is very unfortunate. I wonder if these comments were made after going through some literature or after knowing something or just out of ignorance. I do not know,” he said in the state capital after newsmen sought his reaction. “Do we not realise the preciousness of freedom? How can we afford to say things like this?” he added.
Jaleel, a former state minister, made controversial remarks in a Facebook post on Friday while talking about his visit to Kashmir. In the post written in Malayalam, he said, “The part of Kashmir annexed to Pakistan was known as ‘Azad Kashmir’ and it was an area where the Pakistan government does not have any control. Indian adheena Jammu and Kashmir” (India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir) consists of parts of Jammu, Kashmir valley and Ladakh.”
He also said the people of Kashmir had forgotten to laugh because army soldiers were everywhere. “It seems Kashmiris have become a people who have forgotten to laugh. Army trucks and military presence seem to be part of the daily life of Kashmiris. There is a kind of indifference lurking in every part of Kashmir,” he said in the post criticising the bifurcation of the state and abrogation of Article 370. He withdrew his post on Saturday after it whipped up a controversy.
Meanwhile, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) submitted a fresh complaint against Jaleel to the Thiruvananthapuram police commissioner on Sunday, seeking strict against him. Three complaints were already filed against Jaleel in Kerala (two) and Delhi (one), respectively, on Saturday.
Jaleel, who returned to Kochi from Delhi on Sunday, is a former member of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and also a history teacher in a college in Malappuram district.
The ruling CPI(M) has distanced from his remarks. Minister M V Govindan said what he said was not the party’s view and the party’s position on the issue was clear.
Opposition Congress and BJP have sought a reply from chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is reportedly close to Jaleel.
“The CM should explain. How can he continue as a legislator? His utterances were anti-national,” said minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan. Union minister Prahlad Joshi called him a “traitor” and asked the state government to book the MLA.
A controversial leader Jaleel joined the Muslim League after the SIMI was banned. Later, he quit the League and joined the Left camp.
He was questioned several times by Customs and Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the gold smuggling through the UAE consulate in the state capital surfaced in 2020. He was grilled in connection with the reported import of religious books and dry fruits from the UAE. He was forced to resign from the Pinarayi cabinet in 2019 after Lokayukta passed strictures against him for appointing one of his relatives in a key post flouting all norms.
