A 1.38-minute video footage that captures an apparent procession of people marching and playing band drums is now in the eye of a controversy.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Kummanam Rajashekharan who uploaded and published it in his Twitter handle and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) State leadership are at loggerheads over the veracity of the BJP leader’s claim that it was the footage of CPI(M) workers’ ‘celebration’ of the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) local functionary Choorakkad Biju near Payyannur on May 12.
Mr. Rajashekharan kicked up the row with his publishing of the footage, apparently captured on a mobile phone camera, on Twitter on May 13 with a comment that read, “Brutality, bestiality at its worst - Kannur communists celebrate murder of RSS Karyakartha Biju, whom they beheaded.”
The CPI(M) leadership reacted saying that the video footage was fake.
Students Federation of India district president Muhammed Siraj sent a complaint to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Director General of Police T.P. Senkumar alleging that it was a fake video.
By circulating the video in social media, the BJP leader was trying to provoke hatred among BJP-RSS workers towards the CPI(M) and incite violence against CPI(M) workers. When contacted, District Police Chief G. Siva Vikram said the police were verifying the video.
The day when the video was published by the BJP leader, CPI(M) district secretary P. Jayarajan issued a statement challenging the BJP leader to disclose the name of the locality where the alleged jubilation was held.
The BJP leader’s response in his Twitter handle was that he did not have to reply to the CPI(M) leader ‘whose son celebrated Manoj’s murder.’
He was apparently referring to an alleged Facebook post by Mr. Jayarajan’s son Jain Raj reportedly congratulating those behind the murder of RSS worker E. Manoj at Kathirur here in September 2014.
In a separate Twitter comment, the BJP leader said that “celebrating death is a CPI(M) hobby. Hanging dogs at the spot of Manoj’s murder, victory march after K. T. Jayakrishnan’s judgement are instances.”
Meanwhile, the BJP State president said he stood by his statement that the video was that of the jubilation of the CPI(M) workers following the murder of Biju.
CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told a press meet here on Tuesday that the party would resort to legal action against him for publishing the ‘fake’ video.
