A case was filed in the Hosdurg Police Station by the Kanhangad mandalam president of Yuvamorcha, the BJP’s youth wing.
PK Firoz speaking at a Muslim Youth League rally in Kozhikode on 25 July. (Facebook)
The Kerala Police have arrested five people for raising communally provocative slogans during a rally organised by the Muslim Youth League, the youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), in the Kasaragod district.
The issue came to light after a video of the incident went viral on social media. The march, organised in Kanhangad on 25 July, was part of a statewide party programme held in solidarity with the victims of the violence in Manipur.
A case was filed in the Hosdurg Police Station on Wednesday, 26 July, by the Kanhangad mandalam president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth wing.
“Five people, Abdul Salam, Sherif, Mohamamd Kunju, Ashir, and Mohammad Ayoob, were arrested and remanded in judicial custody,” Hosdurg Police Station Sub Inspector Vijesh P told South First.
“The complaint has mentioned six other people, including Youth League national secretary Firoz Babu. They have not been arrested yet. The case is also registered against over 300 unknown persons,” he added.
According to Assistant Sub Inspector of the Special Branch Police Santhosh, who is probing the case, the accused have been booked under various sections of the IPC, including 153A, which deals with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and committing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony.
“They have also been booked under IPC Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting), and 149 (every member of an unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of a common object),” Santhosh told South First.
“The permission for conducting the rally was obtained by the Kanhangad mandalam president of the Youth League. We have not yet decided whether to take action against them. Further steps will be taken during the investigation,” he added.
Following the arrest of the five party members and the case against over 300 of its affiliates, Youth League state general secretary PK Firoz said that the party had constituted an internal committee to probe the incident.
“Further action regarding the issue will be taken after the internal committee submits its report. We have not yet decided on the action to be taken following the arrest of the five people,” Firoz told South First.
Earlier, he said that the party would be fully cooperating with the legal proceedings.
During a rally organised by the Muslim Youth League in solidarity with the people of Manipur, the cadre raised a communally hateful slogan targeting the majority community with acts of violence.
The rally was part of the party’s statewide protest on 25 July, asking the Union government to take action to restore peace in Manipur in the wake of the ongoing violent ethnic clashes in the state.
“The hateful slogans raised during the rally organised at Kanhangad deviate from the principles of the League and they were different from the already printed slogans. The party considers raising the slogan as an unforgivable mistake and hereby remove Abdul Salam from Kanhangad municipality from the party,” Firoz said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The person who shouted the slogan was not a party functionary, he was just a member. Soon after the others in the rally heard the slogans, he was stopped,” Firoz told South First earlier.
“The slogans he raised were not with the knowledge of the organisers. It deviated from the printed slogans that the party gave. So, any legal action regarding this is most welcome,” said Firoz.
Youth League state president Sayyid Munavvar Ali Shihab Thangal said in a statement that creating hatred or enmity between different communities was not in the party’s principles.
“The party will not tolerate those who work against the principles of the party and those who work in a way that harms religious harmony. We deeply regret the offence that a person had committed under the party’s label,” Thangal said in the statement.
Slamming the Youth League and Muslim League, which is a key ally of the Congress-led UDF Opposition in Kerala, the BJP alleged that the provocative slogans were raised with the support of the CPI(M)-led LDF government and that the southern state “is now the new pit of rabid radicalisation”.
BJP’s National Information & Technology in-charge Amit Malviya alleged in a tweet that they wouldn’t have gone this far if the Pinarayi government was not supporting them.
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