Kerala Police Take One Person Into Custody After Provocative Slogans Raised At PFI 'Save The Republic' Rally

The police have registered a case against the PFI Alappuzha district president, secretary and other persons under section 153A of IPC

Representative Image of a person arrested.

Source : Getty Images

New Delhi: The Kerala Police have taken one person into custody in connection with the provocative slogans raised during a rally organised by the Popular Front of India (PFI) in Alappuzha over the weekend, a video of which went viral on social media. The police have also registered a case against the PFI's Alappuzha district president, secretary and other persons under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, or residence.

The Kerala Police launched its investigation after the video surfaced, showing a minor boy raising provocative slogans purportedly against Hindus and Christians. The video was from the PFI's "Save the Republic" rally that took place in Alappuzha on Saturday, May 21.

Alappuzha, Kerala | One person has been taken into custody by police after a boy was seen raising a provocative slogan allegedly at a Popular Front of India march. Case registered against PFI Alappuzha district president, secretary and other persons under section 153A of IPC

— ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2022

In the purported video, the minor boy perched on the shoulders of an adult could be heard chanting slogans with the crowd repeating after him. The lines were: "Hindus should keep rice for their last rites, Christians should buy incense for their last rites. If you want to live here, live decently. And if you don’t live decently, we know how to implement azadi (freedom).”

After the police launched a probe, the PFI, in an internal note made available for the media, said such slogans were against the policy of the organisation. "We have given approved slogans which were to be raised in the rally at Alappuzha. Several party workers joined the rally protesting against the RSS."

It added: "The visuals of a boy raising slogans came to our notice now. Those slogans were not approved or given by the organisers of the rally. It’s not the policy of the organisation to provoke or raise provocative slogans," PFI state secretary CA Raoof said in the note, as quoted by News18.

DYFI, the youth wing of the ruling CPI(M), alleged that the sloganeering was part of a "communal agenda" to divide the secular Kerala, PTI reported.

Hours before the PFI's "Save the Republic" rally, Bajrang Dal workers took out a "shaurya" rally in Alappuzha. The right-wing outfit raised slogans such as, "the country cannot be handed over to anti-nationals and communalists".