Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has expressed shock over the virtual address of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal at a pro-Palestine event in Kerala and said the state has been witnessing a rise of organisations that have very extremist, radical and Islamist thoughts. BJP leader Anil Antony attacked the ruling CPI(M)-led government and the opposition Congress and Muslim League for "backing radical extremists" in the state. He said that Mashal made an address two weeks back in Pakistan and called for global jihad.
"The last few years in Kerala have seen the growing rise of a lot of fundamentalist organizations...A terror leader, who 2 weeks back was addressing a crowd in Pak calling for global jihad and yesterday he waddressing a massive crowd in Kerala, virtually. This is shocking," the BJP leader said.
Pointing towards CPI(M), and both opposition parties Muslim League and Congress, he said they pander to these extremists who are a threat to national security and "we hope that they are charged with UAPA".
"We have no hope from state police as they are involved in these activities...in the last few months, NIA has done various investigations in Kerala and filed half-a-dozen chargesheet in these cases. Once again, NIA will have to step in...The state government is in hand and gloves with these terrorist organisations" he claimed.
"Communist Party. The Congress Party and Muslim League are two prominent opposition parties...All three of them are part of the INDI alliance...the three parties are fighting with each other to support this radical extremist further for vote bank politics," Antony said.
Kerala BJP chief K Surendran on Saturday alleged that Hamas leader Khaled Mashal participated in a protest programme virtually which was organised by an Islamist group in the state, reported PTI. Surendran claimed in a Facebook post that Mashal's participation in the event organised by the Solidarity Youth Movement, the youth wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, on Friday. He also shared a post with Masha's image on X, formerly Twitter.
"Hamas leader Khaled Mashel's virtual address at the Solidarity event in Malappuram is alarming. Where's @pinarayivijayan's Kerala Police ? Under the guise of 'Save Palestine,' they're glorifying Hamas, a terrorist organization, and its leaders as 'warriors.' This is unacceptable! @HMOIndia," he said in the post.
Talking about the Popular Front of India (PFI), Antony said, "PFI is a banned organisation in India but in Kerala, we see a lot of open cells of the PFI and once the Israel conflict started, we saw what dangers these radical ideologies can do. Many rallies are being organised by PFI that is openly supporting many terror bodies in the world."