Kerala: Over 300 booked for raising provocative slogans raised during IUML Youth League march

PTI, Jul 26, 2023, 2:53 PM IST

image for representation

Over 300 persons, mostly members of the youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), were booked on Wednesday for allegedly raising provocative slogans during a march in this northern Kerala district, police said here.

The slogans were raised during a march organised by the Youth League at nearby Kanhangad on Tuesday in solidarity with the victims of violence in Manipur.

An officer of the Hosdurg police station said the cases were registered against 300 persons who participated in the Youth League march based on a complaint filed by the BJP Kanhangad mandalam president.

They have been booked under Section 153A of the IPC, which deals with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony No arrests have been made so far, the officer said.

Meanwhile, Youth League State General Secretary P K Firoz said the worker who raised the provocative slogan has been expelled from the organisation.

In a statement, Firoz said Abdul Salam from Kanhangad Municipality was expelled from the Youth League as he raised slogans that are against its ideology. He also said the worker shouted the slogans deviating from the printed version given to the workers for raising during the march. Slamming the Youth League and Muslim League, which is a key ally of the Congress-led UDF opposition in Kerala, the BJP alleged that the provocative slogans were raised with the support of the CPI(M)-led LDF government and that the southern state ”is now the new pit of rabid radicalisation”.

”Youth wing of the Indian Union Muslim League, an ally of the Congress, held a rally in Kerala’s Kasargode, and raised vile anti-Hindu slogans, threatening to hang them (Hindus) in front of Temples and burn them alive…They wouldn’t have dared to go this far had the Pinarayi Govt not been supporting them,” BJP’s National Information & Technology in-charge Amit Malviya alleged in a tweet. ”Are Hindus and Christians now safe in Kerala,” he asked.