Kerala Police Files Case Against BJP Leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar For Alleged Religious Hatred Promotion

In a significant development in Kerala, a legal controversy has erupted surrounding Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister of State, Rajeev Chandrasekhar. He now faces legal action for allegedly promoting hatred between religious communities on social media. This development comes in the wake of the tragic October 29th blasts at a Christian religious gathering, resulting in three fatalities and over 50 injuries.

An official at the Ernakulam Central police station, where the First Information Report (FIR) was filed, has informed that Chandrasekhar has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause a riot), Section 153A (promoting enmity between different religious groups), and Section 120 (o) (causing nuisance and violation of public order) of the Kerala Police Act. Notably, Section 153A of the IPC is a non-bailable offense, as reported by Hindustan Times.

This legal action comes on the heels of Kerala's Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, accusing Chandrasekhar of disrupting communal harmony in the state and sowing discord among different religious communities. The BJP leader's controversial social media post following the blasts at a convention of the Christian sect Jehovah’s Witnesses further intensified the political tension. In the post, he criticized Chief Minister Vijayan and questioned his priorities, alluding to alleged appeasement politics. Chandrasekhar's post read, "Dirty shameless appeasement politics by a discredited Chief Minister besieged by corruption charges. Sitting in Delhi and protesting against Israel when in Kerala, open calls by terrorist Hamas for jihad are causing attacks and bomb blasts on innocent Christians."

Reacting to the FIR filed against him, Chandrasekhar claimed that the two prominent opposition parties in Kerala, CPI(M) and Congress, have united against him. He accused them of being appeasers of radical and violent organizations, such as SDPI, PFI, and Hamas, whose politics, he alleges, have contributed to radicalization and violence over the years in various regions, including Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and Kerala. He further criticized their attempts to silence him through legal action, asserting that he was merely exposing their alleged appeasement of Hamas. The complaint against Chandrasekhar was lodged by Sarin P, the convenor of the digital media cell of the Congress unit in Kerala.