Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said he feels branding him as a communal element is “akin to terming Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden a humanist.”
Speaking at a function organised by the India Minority Forum on empowering minority communities in Kochi on December 1 (Friday), Mr. Chandrasekhar said a prominent politician of Kerala had tried to fix the label on him for his criticism against a Hamas leader addressing a meeting in Kerala online.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who termed Mr. Chandrasekhar as a communal element in the wake of his controversial statements in connection with the Kalamassery Jehovah’s Witnesses convention blast case, had intensified his criticism later. The Chief Minister went on to state that Mr. Chandrasekhar was a bitter communalist. The Kerala Police had also booked a case against Mr. Chandrasekhar under Section 153 (a) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for causing enmity among various social and religious groups.
Mr. Chandrasekhar said that he did not accept such random labelling. He also called for giving direction to the youth of the country with the right education and training to upgrade their skills to save them from radicalisation and other social ills.
During the function, Fr. Thomas Tharayil, general secretary, Kerala Regional Latin Catholic Council, raised concerns over attacks on Christian minorities in different parts of the country.
The attacks were often depicted as sporadic incidents. However, such sporadic incidents have become quite common. No one knows who is behind the attacks on Christian minorities. One needs to seriously think about the safety and security of the Christian minorities in the country, he said.
He urged the Union Government to restore the nomination of representatives of the Anglo-Indian community in Parliament and the Kerala Assembly. He was also critical of the Union Human Resources Development Ministry's decision to cancel the pre-matric scholarship for minorities.
Satnam Singh Sandhu, convener, Indian Minorities Foundation; Anoop Antony, former national secretary of the youth wing of the BJP; Fr. Alexander Koodarathil, Sr. Gilbert; BJP district president K.S. Shiju; S. Dinny, and Himany Sood were among those who spoke.
