Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 18 (PTI) Kerala BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday alleged “double standards” in the CPI(M) and Congress response to incidents of Hindu beliefs being insulted and said that it was no longer acceptable.
Chandrasekhar, in a Facebook post, said that in a secular state like Kerala which was full of diversity, all religious beliefs should be respected equally.
He contended that the BJP-NDA was committed to ending “this hypocritical political culture that conspires to insult beliefs” and building a developed Kerala that respects and protects all religions.
Referring to a recent incident of an image of a young Lord Krishna sitting before a Arabian non-vegetarian dish being used in a Vishu promotional poster of an eatery, Chandrasekhar said that it was not creativity but an insult of Hindu beliefs.
He claimed that it was not an accidental or isolated incident and alleged that the Congress and CPI(M) have been trying for years to make insulting Hindu beliefs a routine practice, under the guise of secularism.
The BJP state chief said that while no one is permitted to insult other religions, if someone hurts Hindu beliefs, the two parties will remain silent or go along with it.
“This is not secularism, but appeasement. If any other faith was insulted in this way, the Congress and CPI(M) leaders here would have come out with big protests.
“But when it comes to Hindu beliefs, they will not only remain silent, but also come out with justifications,” he claimed in his Facebook post.
Chandrasekhar contended that such “double standards” were no longer acceptable.
Earlier in the day, similar views were expressed on the poster issue by Vishva Hindu Parishad national secretary general Milind Parande at an event in Kochi.
Parande termed the poster an “intentional insult” of Hindu beliefs.
He said that when Hindus protested against it, police registered cases against them.
He demanded that the cases be withdrawn.
In the poster incident, police had registered an FIR against two persons and arrested them for sharing it on WhatsApp.
The owner of the eatery, which had commissioned the poster, had apologised and claimed that it was not used by the restaurant for advertisements or on its social media handles. PTI HMP KH
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