All Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers did was to unfurl a giant banner that read “Jai Shree Ram” on top of the municipal corporation building in Palakkad. But the Kerala police has registered a case against them.
BJP was celebrated its commendable performance in Palakkad Municipality where it won 28 out of 52 seats.
The case was registered after the Palakkad municipal secretary filed a complaint with the police saying that “there was an attempt to destroy communal harmony”, news agency PTI reported.
The party workers were carrying the banners of Chattrapati Shivaji, prime minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and with the slogan of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Jai Shree Ram’, written in Malayalam. A video of the incident went viral on social media platforms.
Briefing about the incident district police chief S Sujithdas said that a case was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 153A (promoting communal disharmony) and that special branch deputy superintendent Krishnan has been asked to file a report “The special branch deputy superintendent has been asked to file a report with regard to the incident,” he added further.
Palakkad MP and Congress leader VK Sreekantan raised concerns over the incident and warned of action against the workers.
“A case has to be registered against those involved. The banners exhibited communal content. If the police hadn’t registered a case because of a lack of complaint, Congress has lodged one with the district police chief on Thursday.” he said.
He also alleged that the banners contained communal content. However, E Krishnadas, BJP Kerala President, had refuted all such claims
“The controversy is much ado about nothing. There were more than 1,500 BJP supporters outside the counting venue. If a few had sneaked to the top of the municipal building, it was without the knowledge of the leadership. The police should have been more vigilant. As soon as the incident came to the notice of the leadership, directions were given to remove the banners. Accordingly, they were removed in a minute”, said Krishnadas.
BJP won a clear majority, securing 28 out of the total 52 seats which went to polls in the municipality. Soon after the results surfaced, BJP national president J P Nadda thanked the people of Kerala for giving an “improved mandate” for the saffron party.
“I thank the people of Kerala for giving an improved mandate to BJP in local body elections,” he tweeted. “With this mandate, we will continue to expose the corruption, communal & hypocrite politics of both LDF & UDF fronts,” Nadda added.
