Kochi: Kerala Police registered a case against Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar for spreading hate propaganda. Chandrasekhar is in the midst of a row for his comment on the Kalamasery blast. The FIR says the minister spread hate propaganda on X.
On Sunday, after news of the Kalamassery blasts spread, Chandrasekhar in a post on X wrote, "Dirty shameless appeasement politics by a discredited CM (and HM) @pinarayivijayan 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."
A day later, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Union Minister of State (MoS) Rajeev Chandrasekhar were engaged in a spat with the BJP leader calling the CM a 'liar'.
The verbal duel between the two followed after the CM's severe criticism of a post by Chandrasekhar on social media platform X in which the union minister seemed to place blame on a particular community for the multiple blasts on Sunday at a Christian gathering near Kochi that killed three persons and injured over 50.
Criticising Chandrasekhar's post, Vijayan at a press conference on Sunday evening said that the statements by the BJP leader were a reflection of his "absolute communal outlook". Hitting back at the CM for his remarks, Chandrasekhar on Monday accused Vijayan of being a "liar" and using terms like 'communal' and 'communalism' to "hide his ineptness as Home Minister of the state" and "cover up his own and his government's corruption and appeasement politics that he has copied from the Congress."
Speaking to reporters in Kochi on Monday afternoon, he further alleged that Kerala under Vijayan has shown tolerance towards radical elements and radicalisation. Chandrasekhar said he did not mention any community in his post on X, and sought to turn the tide against the CM for calling him communal. "I had talked about Hamas and it was almost like the CM was trying to equate Hamas with the broader Muslim brothers and sisters of our state and country," Chandrasekhar said. He further alleged that both the Congress and the Left in Kerala have a history of appeasement of radical elements in the state. Chandrasekhar also said that he has no faith in the political leadership that 'manipulated' Kerala Police.
Later in the day at a press conference held at Kochi, Vijayan said that Chandrasekhar's remarks are indicative of his particular mindset. The CM said that he does not know what the intention was behind the Union MoS's statements, but if it was aimed at destroying the purity of the state, such an attempt will be foiled. He also said that Chandrasekhar was "not just poisonous", but "extremely venomous". "He does not see that as an insult. He views it as an honorific," the CM alleged. Vijayan also said that neither the government nor the Left front compromises with communalism or communal acts.
