The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday slammed Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan government over the First Information Report (FIR) registered against Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on charges of allegedly promoting religious enmity.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the Left government in Kerala crossed all limits in the name of vote bank politics and are quick at booking nationalists and filing false cases.

Slamming the state government for not taking any action against the supporters of Hamas and those who speak in favour of global jihad, the BJP leader said that the “Kerala chief minister whitewashes the crimes of jihadists and penalise nationalists with false cases”.

“Today Pinarayi Vijayan Government has crossed all levels in the name of vote bank politics. They take no action against the organisers of the rally which was held in support of Hamas where a radical element, Khaled Mashal, who speaks about global jihad is invited and allowed to spew venom,” he told news agency ANI.

“This is not the first time the Kerala Government has exhibited such tendencies. They give a free run to radicals, like PFI who perpetrate Islamist Jihad. They give cover fire to Islamist Jihadists. They whitewash the crimes of Islamist Jihadists and they penalise nationalists with false cases. The left eulogises Hamas. Congress and its allies like IUML indulge in this kind of behaviour. The INDI Alliance have legitimised and justified terror organisations… They find Yakub Menon and Afzal Guru innocent. They are quick at booking nationalists and filing false cases,” he said.

The BJP’s Kerala unit chief K Surendran also alleged that this action by the Vijayan government was aimed at “helping” and “encouraging” divisive forces and those with extremist views. “It indicates the double standards of the Pinarayi Vijayan government,” he said while speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Kerala police has registered a case against union minister of state for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar for allegedly making statements promoting enmity between different groups following the blasts in Kerala’s Kochi last week and and a Hamas leader’s virtual address at an event organised by an Islamist group in Malappuram recently.

He has been charged under sections 153 (a) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence) of the Indian Penal Code and section 120 (o) (causing nuisance and violation of public order) of the Kerala Police Act.

On Monday, Chandrasekhar had accused Kerala chief minister of being tolerant towards radical elements, radicalisation a day after the CM accused the union minister of doing ‘appeasement politics’ and threatened legal action for communally-charged remarks after the blast in Kochi’s Kalamassery area that killed three people, including a 12-year-old girl.

Following the blast at a religious gathering of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kalamassery in Kochi on Sunday, Chandrasekhar put up posts on X criticising Vijayan. “Dirty shameless appeasement politics by a discredited CM (and HM) @pinarayivijayan besieged by corruption charges. Sitting in Delhi and protesting against Israel, when in Kerala open calls by Terrorist Hamas for Jihad is causing attacks and bomb blasts on innocent Christians,” he had said.

Following this, a war of words erupted between the chief minister and Chandrasekhar with the BJP leader calling Vijayan a “liar”. The CM called the Union minister “extremely venomous”. The CM also said that if anyone makes statements which are in violation of the law, irrespective of whether they are central or state ministers, cases would be registered against them.

(With inputs from agencies)