The Lok Sabha elections in Kerala ended on 26th. Even though the election was over 15 days ago, there were complaints in Vadakara constituency that communal sentiments were being incited during the election campaign. It is still a tense situation there.
CPM-led LDF and Congress-led UDF have been accusing each other over a communal WhatsApp message in which Congress candidate Shafi Barambil was called a “Muslim who prays 5 times a day” and CPM candidate K.K. The WhatsApp message went viral, implicitly referring to Shailaja as a “kafir girl” (non-Muslim).
This time, both the parties faced a tough electoral battle targeting the leading contenders in Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, a left-wing stronghold that the Congress has been winning since 2009.
On April 24, a day before the polls, an Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) executive allegedly received a WhatsApp message that went viral across the block. A screenshot of the message reads, “Shabi is a Muslim who prays 5 times a day. Another candidate is a ‘kafir’ woman. Think about who you should vote for. Vote for one of us,” it said.
The next day, on April 25, the CPM launched a counter-campaign on its social media saying, “During the days of Nipah, floods and epidemics, this kafir woman (Shailaja, former health minister) worked and protected us all irrespective of caste and creed.”
The Marxist Communist Party has complained to the Election Commission that the UDF was engaged in communal propaganda in North Bank. In its complaint, the CPM alleged that a youth club worker in Vadakarai was behind the news.
The Congress soon accused the CPM of creating a message to stoke communal sentiments and garner votes.
“I strongly believe that the news is twisted. CPM is making allegations using fake screenshot,” alleged Shabi.
The IUML on Thursday marched and petitioned the SP office in Kozhikode demanding that the police arrest the people behind the fake screenshots describing Shailaja as a “kafir girl”. “We want the culprit to be arrested before the election results are out,” DMK state secretary MK Muneer said.
While allegations about the provenance of the screenshot are still pending, both parties (CPM) and Congress have been holding campaigns and public meetings across Vadakara constituency against the communal propaganda.
