Kummanom sticks to his remarks, says ready to go to jail

Kannur: BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan Tuesday said a video posted by him of CPI(M) workers purportedly celebrating the killing of an RSS activist was not fake and challenged the state government to register a case against him.

"Let them investigate and register a case.. I'm prepared to go to jail," Rajasekharan told reporters at Kochi.

He claimed that CPI(M) workers had celebrated the killing of the RSS worker, Biju, in at least 14 places in the state.

Rajasekharan had posted the video 'Jungle Raj in Kerala' on a social media site with the caption 'Brutality, bestiality at its worst- Kannur communists celebrate murder of RSS Karyakartha Biju, whom they beheaded'.

Meanwhile, DGP T P Senkumar today directed the Kannur SP to investigate and verify the authenticity of the video posted by Rajasekharan.

Talking to reporters in Kannur, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleged that the BJP state president had tried to incite violence by circulating the video.

He claimed that during the previous UDF regime, 27 activists of the CPI(M) had been killed by the RSS but at that time, the BJP did not demand imposition of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), he said.

In some states, the AFSPA had been imposed partially or fully. But, wherever it was implemented, peace had not been restored, Balakrishnan said.

The AFSPA was not imposed in Gujarat where over 2,000 persons were killed in 2002 and in Chattisgarh where the recent Maoist attack claimed the lives of 26 CRPF jawans in Sukma district, Balakrishnan alleged.

CPI(M) Kannur District Secretary P Jayarajan said the video could be a party celebration in connection with some other party functions.

Meanwhile, Kannur district president of the Students' Federation of India, Muhammed Siraj, lodged a complaint with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and DGP T P Senkumar, claiming the aim of posting the "fake" video was to stoke RSS-CPI(M) clashes in Kannur.

The video was illegal and a case should be registered, he said.

The chief minister had yesterday informed the state assembly that a case would be registered against Rajasekharan if necessary, for allegedly "spreading false" reports related to the killing of the RSS worker in Kannur.

He also asked the state BJP president to explain where the celebrations had taken place.