CPI(M) behind communal WhatsApp screenshot, says Shafi Parambil
Shafi Parambil, MP-elect from Vadakara, has alleged that the CPI(M) was behind the communal WhatsApp screenshot circulated on social media on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections in the State.
The screenshot showed a message seeking votes for Mr. Parambil, United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate, calling him a devout Muslim and K.K. Shailaja, his political rival in the Left Democratic Front, a ‘kafir’. The UDF had disowned it subsequently calling the message fake.
Mr. Parambil told the media here on Saturday that the CPI(M)’s attempt, through circulating the screenshot, was to question his secular identity. His response comes against the backdrop of a submission in the Kerala High Court by the Vadakara police that the said message was not created or circulated from the mobile phone of P.K. Muhammad Khasim, a Muslim Youth League worker.
Earlier, the LDF had alleged that Mr. Khasim was behind the message. The police submission came in response to a petition by Mr. Khasim seeking a fair probe into the alleged criminal conspiracy behind the circulation of the “fabricated screenshot”.
Mr. Parambil also alleged that the police were dragging their feet in the case. They were reluctant to register cases against those who circulated the message even after knowing that it was fake. “Why are the police not seeking answers from people like K.K. Lathika, former CPI(M) MLA, and the admins of the page where it appeared first? We will continue our legal and political fight to expose those behind it,” he said. Mr. Parambil asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also handles the Home department, to take action against those people. “If the police are deliberately delaying the probe, we will seek another type of investigation, after consulting the UDF leadership,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kozhikode District Congress Committee president K. Praveenkumar sought the arrest of Ms. Lathika and the admins of pro-Left groups who circulated the message.
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