New Delhi: Police in Kerala have registered an FIR against Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar for allegedly intending to disturb communal harmony and stoke unrest through his Facebook post in the aftermath of the two blasts at a Jehovah’s Witnesses convention in Kalamassery.
ThePrint has seen a copy of the First Information Report (FIR) filed in the early hours of Tuesday on the complaint of a sub-inspector attached to the cyber cell in Ernakulam.
Sections invoked in the FIR include 153 (provoking a riot) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act, which deals with causing nuisance and violation of public order.
“In the wake of the bomb blast in Kalamassery, in the Ernakulam district on 29.10.2023, the accused Rajeev Chandrashekhar, with the intention of disturbing the communal harmony and creating unrest posted provocative statements on his Facebook page from 29.10.2023. He posted videos and text messages about “Palestinian terrorist group Hamas” and other provocative statements on social media in an attempt to create unrest amid religious groups in Kerala and incite riots to disturb the peace,” read the FIR lodged at Ernakulam Central police station.
Chandrasekhar took to X (formerly Twitter) to attack the Kerala government and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for the FIR filed against him.
“So the two INDI alliance partners @RahulGandhi and @PinarayiVijayan have jointly filed a “case” against me. Two of biggest appeasers in Indian politics who shamelessly appease poisonous radical violent organizations like SDPI, PFI and Hamas, whose politics have caused radicalization 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 wrote.
The development comes two days after two low-intensity blasts rocked a convention centre in Kalamassery in Ernakulam district, killing three people including a minor.
Chandrasekhar had visited victims of the blasts at a hospital in Kochi Monday. After the visit, he launched an attack against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, alleging that the Kerala government was tolerant of radical elements and radicalisation.
He also attacked the Congress party and said both the Left parties and Congress have a history of appeasing radical elements in Kerala.
“Under CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala has shown increasing tolerance towards radical elements and radicalisation. Whether it is the attempt to burn a train in Kozhikode which would have caused, if he had succeeded, over 200-300 deaths and the characterization of that person as being mentally ill till it was revealed that he was an ISIS sympathiser, and that was a deliberate attempt at terrorism. There is a history of appeasement of radical elements by both the Congress and the Left in Kerala,” Chandrasekhar said at a press conference Monday.
തങ്ങളുടെ പ്രീണന രാഷ്ട്രീയത്തിനും കഴിവില്ലായ്മകൾക്കും വർഗ്ഗീയതയെ മറയാക്കി മുഖ്യമന്ത്രി പിണറായി വിജയനും സിപിഎമ്മും ഇൻഡി സഖ്യവും നടത്തുന്ന ശ്രമങ്ങളെ തുറന്നു കാട്ടി കളമശ്ശേരിയിയിൽ നടത്തിയ വാർത്താ സമ്മേളനത്തിൽ നിന്നുള്ള ഏതാനും ദൃശ്യങ്ങൾ…
Highlights of my press conference at… pic.twitter.com/wGqD6UJmqH
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) October 30, 2023
He also took to X to attack the Kerala government over former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal virtually addressing a pro-Palestine gathering on October 27.
“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,” Chandrasekhar wrote on X.
Kerala CM Vijayan responded to the allegations against his government, Monday, without naming Chandrasekhar.
“Those who’re poisonous will keep spitting poison… one of the Union ministers made a statement that I am doing appeasement politics and protesting against Israel… he is a minister and he should give some minimum respect to the investigating agencies, the probe is underway… in such a serious incident, at such an early stage, they are making such statements targeting a few set of people,” he said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian group whose prayer meeting was bombed in Kerala