Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran on Sunday countered BJP leader K. Surendran’s claim that the State police had maltreated him in custody.
Speaking to journalists in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr. Kadakampally Surendran said that he talked to Circle Inspector (CI) of the Chittar police station where the BJP leader was detained overnight after his arrest from Nilackal on Saturday evening.
Mr. Kadakampally Surendran said the officer send him video footage from the police station’s surveillance cameras. It showed Mr. Surendran sitting in the CI’s room. Later, the police arranged benches together so the BJP leader could sleep undisturbed.
They provided him with hot water, food and medicine. However, the police disallowed Mr. Surendran’s demand that law enforcers wait for his party colleagues to arrive before they produced him in front of the local magistrate.
The Minister accused Mr. Surendran of spreading toxic lies to vitiate the communal atmosphere in Kerala. He said Mr. Surendran had falsely said the police had desecrated his “irumudi kettu”. He urged the public to see through the lies and maintain peace.
CPM State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told journalists in Thiruvananthapuram that the BJP actions were similar to those unleashed by revanchist forces against the first elected communist government in Kerala in 1959. Such “liberation struggle” tactics would not work in modern Kerala.
The Minister also accused Mr.Surendran of breaking the Hindu traditions by visiting Sabarimala, within a few months of his mother’s death.
“No believer would visit a major shrine within one year of a family member’s death. It is clear that their agenda is not to protect traditions, but to mislead devotees and make political gains ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year. They would resort to any amount of lies or communal propaganda with this aim in mind,” said the Minister, while speaking to presspersons at Thiruvananthapuram.
Earlier, BJP-RSS activists staged a protest when he arrived at the St.Mary’s Higher Secondary School here to inaugurate the annual development seminar of the city Corporation. A scuffle broke out between CPI(M) and BJP-RSS activists. Police intervened and removed the protesters. The Minister said that the BJP should not have used the venue meant for important discussions on the city’s developmental initiatives for its political protests.
“The Supreme Court verdict came as a result of petitions submitted way back in 2006 by women lawyers connected to the BJP and the RSS. Now that the SC has given a favourable verdict, they are protesting against the Kerala government, which had only submitted an affidavit demanding the appointment of a commission of those who have deep knowledge in Hindu religion to take the final decision,” he said.
