A day after caustic exchange of words with Kerala Chief Minister, the Kochi police Tuesday registered a case against Union Minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar for allegedly making provocative comments on social media following the IED blasts at a convention centre in Kochi’s Kalamassery on Sunday that left three dead, including a 12-year-old girl. Based on a complaint from the Kochi city police cyber cell, a non-bailable case was registered against Chandrasekhar under IPC sections 153 (provocation for rioting) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and under the Kerala Police Act section 120 (o), which deals with causing nuisance and violating public order. The accused in the FIR has been identified as “Rajeev Chandrasekhar Facebook profile name.” It said the accused had made provocative comments against the backdrop of the blasts such as “Palestine terrorist group Hamas and spread it through videos and text messages with an intention of creating communal hatred towards a section and shatter harmony in the state.’’ So the two INDI alliance partners @RahulGandhi and @PinarayiVijayan have jointly filed a "case" against me Two of biggest appeasers in Indian politics who shamelessly appease poisonous radical violent organizations like SDPI, PFI and Hamas, whose politics have caused… pic.twitter.com/rTOLCULeDT — Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) October 31, 2023 After the blasts, Chandrasekhar had posted on Facebook, “The price of appeasement politics of Cong and CPM will always be borne by innocents of all communities - That is what history has taught us. Brazen appeasement politics - shameless even by Cong / CPM / UPA/ INDI alliance standards to invite Terrorist Hamas to spread hate & call for ‘Jihad’ in Kerala. This is the height of irresponsible madness politics. Enough! ‘You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbors. You know, eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard’ - Hilary Rodham Clinton.” Strongly reacting to Chandrasekhar’s remarks, Vijayan said that the minister was “spitting venom”. On Monday, both leaders were embroiled in a war of words over the blasts. Chandrasekhar had visited the blast site Monday and said, “To accuse me of being communal or to accuse our party of doing anything other than looking after the best interest of every Indian, is to be a liar. He (Pinarayi Vijayan) is a liar.If not having links with the SDPI, PFI and Hamas is the qualification for being called communal, I am proud to say that nobody in BJP has any links to SDPI, PFI and Hamas,” he said. “Hamas is allowed to preach hatred in Kerala. It is free speech for Vijayan. The government of Kerala will not do anything. The same CM did not hesitate to put a journalist behind bars. If the home minister (also Pinaryari Vijayan) is unable to protect the people of Kerala, he should find somebody else competent enough,” Chandrasekhar said. Hitting back, Vijayan said, “Is this the manner (in which) a minister in the country reacts on such an issue? He should not just be called poison, but lethal poison. He tried to shatter Kerala’s harmony and bonhomie.” The chief minister went on to question Chandrasekhar’s faith in the investigating agencies, and reiterated that the investigation was progressing “very well and the central agencies are extending full support”. He cannot destroy Kerala’s harmony by his absurdity, Vijayan said.
