Who is PC George who has merged his party with the BJP in Kerala?

Possessing a licenced gun, he often threatened enemies saying he never treated the weapon as a toy.

But he proclaims he holds no grudge against those who term him a political chameleon or turncoat.

PC George through the years

Elected to the Kerala Assembly on seven occasions over 33 years from the Poonjar constituency in central Kerala, George is a seasoned politician with a long history of taking turns to support communal organisations representing Hindutva and political Islam apart from his Roman Catholic division of the church.

During the last Assembly election, the electorate in Poonjar did not choose the “motormouth” “lone-tusker” as their representative.

The rival LDF candidate won the seat with a thumping majority of 11,404 votes.

Poonjar is a Hindu-majority constituency, and George — the self-proclaimed Christian leader — had won the constituency thus far by ensuring the sizeable Muslim population voted for him.

However, when he used aggressive Hindutva in the last Assembly election, hoping to win the support of devout Hindus, both Hindus and Muslims turned against him.

Since then, George has been attempting to be a strong proponent of aggressive Hindutva by using Islamophobia.

Earlier associated with both the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), George is now an arch-enemy of both political coalitions.

On numerous occasions, Dalits, tribals, and Muslims were targets of his derogatory remarks.

Also Read: PC George joins BJP, merges his Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) with the saffron party

Why can’t Kerala politics ignore George?

Despite all the negativity he faces at present, George continues to be a leader no one can ignore in Kerala.

He is entangled in most political controversies the state has witnessed for at least the last 15 years.

He is a very visible political face on local television channels, and each remark of his elicits responses on a large scale, be they positive or negative responses.

George began his political career with Kerala Congress splinter groups led by KM Mani and PJ Joseph.

He later formed the parties Kerala Congress (Secular) and Kerala Janapaksham (Secular).

His detractors say secularism exists only in the names of his parties and never in his mind.

Arrest and bail

Though George approves of most of the allegations levelled against him by his detractors by saying he is just expressing what he feels is correct, the Machiavellian politician has always boasted about his ability to stay away from allegations of sexual assault and scandals.

On Saturday, the claim ended when the prime accused in the Solar Scam filed a police case against George, alleging he attempted to outrage her modesty inside a government guest house where she was summoned to “conspire” against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and implicate him in the gold-smuggling case.

George, who was facing interrogation in another case of alleged conspiracy with gold-smuggling case prime accused Swapana Suresh to tarnish the image of Pinarayi Vijayan, thus evoking social unrest, was arrested on Saturday, 2 July, and produced before a court.

But George managed to obtain bail by the evening as the police failed to submit any proof about the incident except a confession statement claimed to have been given to them by George.

George now says he never gave such a confession.

Also Read: PC George hints at merging his Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) party with BJP

Cynosure of controversy

Once out of police custody, he levelled some serious corruption and irregularity allegations against Vijayan and his IT entrepreneur daughter Veena. The CPI(M) is yet to respond to his no-holds-barred attack.

It was not the first time George targeted political heavyweights and their families.

Late Communist leader KR Gouri and her husband and former minister TV Thomas were subjected to brutal character assassination by George seven years ago when Gouri was still alive.

Four years ago, he was summoned by the Kerala Women’s Commission for making derogatory references to a Catholic nun who alleged she was raped by a bishop of her church.

He continues to question the integrity of the film actress who is waging a protracted legal fight against leading Malayalam actor Dileep for sending hired men to rape her in a moving vehicle.

A longtime associate of the Islamic fundamentalist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), George wanted to declare India a Hindu nation as soon as he switched to the Sangh Parivar camp.

He was arrested twice in May for hate speeches against Muslims.

In one such speech, he said Muslim tea-shop owners in Northern Kerala are adding a particular liquid to tea to cause impotence in Christian and Hindu buyers.

“Now Poonjar realises it’s a big mistake. In the 2016 Assembly election, he won with a margin of 27,821 votes in the constituency without the help of the LDF, the UDF, and the BJP. But his hate speeches and communal positions have created a bad impression in the minds of local people,” said Sebastian Kalathinkal, the incumbent MLA from Poonjar.

“So I defeated him in the last election with a massive mandate,” he explained.

In 2013, George caused considerable damages to the then UDF government using a newspaper report that said a woman’s husband thrashed a then minister in the latter’s house over an alleged extramarital affair.

George named the minister as Kerala Congress (B) leader KB Ganesh Kumar and sought his immediate resignation.

When Ganesh threatened to sue him, George said he would reveal more about his personal life.

That issue later snowballed into the now infamous Solar Scam that ended Congress-led UDF’s rule in the state.

Also Read: ‘Hate-spewing’, ‘foul-mouthed’, and now rape-accused: The curious case of PC George

What lies ahead?

According to political observer Advocate K Jayashankar, George joined the Sangh Parivar as a last resort and evoked communal sentiments against Muslims as a means of survival.

“He may get some positions in the Union government using the Sangh Parivar connections. But the chances of another victory in the Poonjar Assembly constituency are remote,” he said.