CPM state secretary M V Govindan on Friday refuted insinuations that his party was behind the 'kafir' screenshot and said that such a post was the culmination of the "obscene and communally regressive" propaganda that the UDF unleashed right from the start of the Lok Sabha polls campaign in Vadakara.
The needle of suspicion turned firmly towards the CPM after the Vadakara Police, in a statement to the High Court on August 13, said that DYFI Vadakara Block Committee president Ribesh R S was one of the first persons to spread the Facebook post that called CPM candidate K K Shylaja a 'kafir'. It was also revealed that Ribesh's phone had been impounded for a forensic test.
Govindan said the CPM had no reason to do it. "In fact, it was the LDF election committee that first gave a complaint (against the 'kafir' post), and it was during the last days of the election," he said. "The real culprits should be brought to justice. It is unfair to keep people under a cloud of suspicion," Govindan said, a clear reference to DYFI leader Ribesh whose phone has been picked up by the police. "The secular stand taken by LDF is not for a day or for an election period. It is our entrenched eternal position," he said.
However, the CPM state secretary failed to provide a convincing reply when asked why Ribesh was reluctant to reveal the source of the post that he forwarded first. "The phone is now with the police. Let them find out," was Govindan's reply.
He was equally unconvincing when asked why the police had still not concluded its probe into the fake video created against Dr Jo Joseph, the LDF candidate for the Thrikkakkara by-election in 2022. "The police are investigating. It's their job," Govindan said.
Nonetheless, Govindan did not fully rule out the role of apparently Left-leaning social media groups like the Facebook pages in the name of 'Porali Shaji' (the mobile of the admin of the 'Porali Shaji' FB page, Vahab, was also seized by the police) and 'Ambadimukk Sakhakkal - Kannur' and the WhatsApp group 'Red Encounter'. "I only said that the CPM has got nothing to do with it ('kafir' screenshot)," Govindan said.
"We have long before disowned certain groups not in any way connected to the CPM but are somehow perceived to be associated with the party. 'Porali Shaji', 'Red Encounter'... the party has nothing to do with them. Most of what they do are against the party and some in favour," the CPM state secretary said.
Though he did not directly accuse the UDF of fabricating the 'kafir' post, Govindan said that it was the UDF's 'regressive election tactics' that led to the creation of such an FB post. "It was the offspring of a peculiar culture that was spawned by the immoral election campaign of the UDF," Govindan said. "It ('kafir' screenshot) should not be seen as a one-off event," he said.
Govindan said UDF's Shafi Parambil began his campaign in Vadakara by ridiculing the 'teacher amma' epithet that Kerala had given Shylaja. "The subsequent events made it clear that by launching personal attacks the UDF was attempting to take the election campaign to the levels of character assassination," Govindan said.
And then he reeled out the false propaganda that was allegedly let loose, one by one, against Shylaja by the UDF.
1) Shylaja had said that all Muslims were communal.
2) She said that the Prophet had spread wrong messages.
3) Shylaja shared the RSS opinion on 'love jihad'.
4) Doctored images of Shylaja with Panur bomb blast accused were circulated.
"They even unleashed a fake campaign against Teacher using a fabricated letterhead of Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker," Govindan said. He said that many League workers were arrested for such deeds.
However, Govindan served Shylaja a veiled rebuke. Shylaja had earlier said that CPM leader K K Lathika should not have forwarded the 'kafir' post. She said it was against CPM principles and was unbecoming of a CPM leader.
Govindan said Lathika had done nothing wrong. 'She did not share the post to spread such a message. She did it to warn society against such a danger. "It was to save, and not to destroy," Govindan said about Lathika's act. It is another matter that once the controversy erupted, Lathika not only took down the post but also shut down her FB page.
