Thiruvananthapuram, June 17 (IANS) The Youth Congress in Kerala on Monday filed a complaint with the state police chief against top CPI(M) leader and former legislator, KK Lathika, for sharing a controversial post on social media.
KK Lathika is now in the hot seat and on Sunday the post was deleted from her social media account.
KK Lathika is a member of the powerful state committee of the Kerala unit of the CPI(M), while her husband P Mohanan apart from being a state committee member is also the Kozhikode District Secretary of the party.
The post had created a huge controversy in the peak of the Lok Sabha poll campaign at Vadakara which saw veteran party legislator and former state Health Minister, KK Shailaja taking on young Congress legislator Shafi Parambil, a former Youth Congress President.
The controversial post was said to be the work of the Muslim Students’ Federation, the student wing of the Indian Union Muslim League (second-biggest ally of the Congress led UDF).
The post was attributed to the MSF District Secretary P Muhammed Khasim and read, “Shafi is a pious young man who offers namaz five times a day and the other is a non-Muslim kafir (infidel) female candidate. Who should we vote for… let us think…”
The CPI(M)-led Left took up this issue in a big way during the election campaign, but after a detailed probe the police submitted a report in the High Court that gave a clean chit to Khasim.
No one knows as yet who put up the controversial post.
KK Rema, a legislator supported by the UDF and whose husband TP Chandrasekheran was hacked to death by CPI(M) workers in 2012, on Monday said Shailaja was made a scapegoat by the party.
“Lathika should be arrested,” said KK Rema.
After Lathika’s act became public, Leader of Opposition, VD Satheesan on Monday said the police and the government should now act appropriately.
“It’s most unfortunate that a party like CPI(M) and its top leaders were behind this very dangerous hate campaign that was undertaken during the Lok Sabha elections. We will definitely launch a massive protest if those who are behind this dirty communal campaign are not brought to book,” said Satheesan.
The Vadakara election was seen as the most fiery poll battle in Kerala with tempers running high between the CPI(M) cadres and the UDF cadres and eventually Parambil won by a margin of over 1.10 lakh votes.
With the Assembly resuming from Tuesday after a small break, this issue is likely to flare up on the floor of the House.
–IANS
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