Thiruvananthapuram: The Question Hour in the Kerala Assembly witnessed a heated debate on Friday after the Opposition raised the controversial Kafir post that circulated in Vadakara during the Lok Sabha elections in the House. Congress MLAs Mathew Kuzhalnadan and KK Rema raised the issue during the question and answer session. The MLAs asked how many cases were registered against the communal posts made during the Vadakara Lok Sabha elections. Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan questioned why no case had been filed against CPM state committee member and former Kuttiadi MLA KK Lathika for sharing the controversial 'Kafir' post.
Responding to questions on behalf of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Parliamentary Affairs Minister MB Rajesh said two cases were registered in connection with the spread of communal hatred through social media as part of the Lok Sabha elections at Vadakara.
"A case was registered based on the complaint filed by K K Shailaja and another case by a Muslim League youth leader. Police have been conducting a detailed probe in both the cases and have requested Facebook to remove the content and have sought the profile details.An investigation is progressing which requires the details of the profiles from Facebook. The government takes the spread of communal hatred through social media seriously and will take stern action," Rajesh said.
He said 17 cases were registered against various persons for spreading communal hatred against Shailaja, during the election period.
When the opposition Congress asked why a case was not registered against Lathika, who had allegedly shared the 'Kafir' post, Rajesh said her's was not a communal post. Dissatisfied with the response, the opposition took center stage and protested.
Lathika had shared a screenshot post that circulated under the name of Muslim Students’ Federation (MSF) Kozhikode district secretary Muhammed Khasim P. The post 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." This post surfaced in the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency just before the 2024 general elections, referencing the contest between CPM’s KK Shailaja and Congress’ Shafi Parambil, with the latter winning by 1,14,506 votes.
Lathika shared the post with a comment: “How communal. Shouldn’t our state rise above such divisiveness even after elections? Don’t spread such communal messages.” In response, United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders demanded her arrest, accusing the CPM of fabricating the screenshot to polarize the constituency. The post sparked intense debate in Kerala's political circles, leading Lathika to delete it from her Facebook page and lock her profile.
In the assembly, Kuzhalnadan questioned what actions had been taken regarding the widespread dissemination of toxic communalism on social media for electoral gain. He noted that a former MLA had prominently displayed the screenshot as her profile picture for over forty days, and it had been shared by tens of thousands of people. The MLA slammed the police for protecting those involved.
The questions and answers on the creation and use of a fake identity card during the Youth Congress elections, and the cyber crime against women by LDF MLAs V Joy and U Pratibha also invited the Opposition uproar as the sub-questions were not related to the topic of dicussion.
Citing the Speaker's hesitation to allow discussion on issues raised by the UDF, the MLAs of the front later staged a walkout from the Assembly.
