Complaint against Sreedharan Pillai, Chidananda Puri
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Thiruvananthapuram: CPI(M) leader V. Sivankutty has filed a complaint with the Election Commission and the Attingal police against P S Sreedharan Pillai, state president of BJP, for a speech against the Muslim community, accusing him of trying to create communal tension in the State.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Mr. Sivankutty, who is also leading the campaign for CPM candidate A. Sampath in Attingal, said the speech was a violation of the model code of conduct.
Pillai has made highly objectionable remarks against the Muslim community with the intention of garnering votes for the BJP. But that kind of speech has never been made by any political leader in Kerala, Sivankutty said.
Sreedharan Pillai had made controversial communal remarks at an election meeting in Attingal. He said that Rahul Gandhi, Pinarayi Vijayan and Sitaram Yechury demanded the Indian armed forces to provide the count of destroyed terrorists and their religion following the Balakot attack. If we have to identify the Muslims, then it will be known by removing the clothes, Pillai said during his speech.
Sivankuty said that the speech is not only a violation of the model code of conduct, but also a criminal act under IPC Section 153A for promoting enmity between different sections of people on grounds of religion.
Sivankutty said he had also filed a complaint against Swami Chidananda Puri with the Election Commission for violation of the model code of conduct. He just has a Swami attached to his name, but he is a worker of the BJP-RSS. For the past few days, he has made it a habit to hurl insults at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Now, he has organised a protest in front of the Secretariat and openly claimed that he will go against the Election Commission’s directives to not use religion and Sabarimala as an election issue, Sivankutty said.
Responding to the allegations against him, Sreedharan Pillai said in a press release that the CPI(M) and the Congress had taken his words out of context and misinterpreted them to whip up communal sentiments for fear of minority votes.
