Hitting back at comments from Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and the BJP regarding a former Hamas chief’s virtual address at an event in Malappuram on Friday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Monday that the BJP was trying to get cases registered against people just for supporting Palestine, but that those efforts would not work in the state. “This is not going to happen here [in Kerala]. We and our country have always been with the Palestinian people,” Vijayan said. The BJP has demanded an investigation into Friday’s event, organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami’s youth wing, Solidarity Youth Movement. Former head of Hamas, Khaled Mashal, virtually addressed the pro-Palestine rally. “It is said that a Palestinian fighter had addressed that rally. What I understand is that it was a recorded video. Normally, when Jamaat-e-Islami or any other organisation seeks permission for meetings, police usually give sanction. Such permission was given to this meeting also,” Vijayan said of the event. “In this meeting, if something happened that should not have taken place, police will examine it and will do the needful,” he said. Mashal’s address had caused an uproar in Kerala, with the BJP targeting not just the organisers, but also the Left and Congress. Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar had criticised what he called the “appeasement politics” of the Congress and the state’s ruling CPI(M). He blamed these parties for Mashal’s address, saying the Hamas leader was invited to “spread hate and call for ‘jihad’ in Kerala”. Quoting former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chandrasekhar said: “You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours. You know, eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard.” State BJP chief K Surendran also criticised the Left and Congress over Mashal’s address, and called for a probe into the incident.
