Protests against BJP Kollam candidate: Kerala police file 2 cases

Kollam (Kerala): Police here have filed two cases against several persons in connection with the protests faced by the BJP candidate for the Kollam Lok Sabha seat, G Krishnakumar, when he visited an educational institution in the district for canvassing.

The cases were booked last night based on two complaints, one by a BJP member and another by ABVP activists, alleging unlawful assembly, rioting with weapons and causing hurt to members of both organisations by the accused persons.

Police have booked seven persons for the offences of unlawful assembly, rioting, rioting with weapons, wrongful restraint, use of obscene words and songs and voluntarily causing hurt under the IPC.

An officer of Kundara police station, where the cases have been filed, said that the accused persons have been summoned for recording their statements.

Actor-turned-politician Krishnakumar had strongly condemned the protests against him on Wednesday when he visited the campus of the Industrial Training Institute at Chandanthope here with works of the BJP and ABVP.

Visuals aired by TV channels showed SFI activists shouting slogans against BJP as Krishnakumar reached the campus. This led to a clash between the Left students and ABVP activists.

Condemning the SFI workers' actions, Krishnakumar had told reporters that what they did was 'real fascism'.

He said that when his rival candidates, M Mukesh of LDF and N K Premachandran of UDF, had visited the campus, there were no protests. However, when he visited, SFI activists raised slogans, saying 'no welcome for Narendra Modi's candidate.' The SFI had claimed that their protest was not directed at Krishnakumar, but was against the ABVP's attempt to call him to inaugurate the students' union's prize distribution programme.

The Left student outfit accused the ABVP of violating the agreement between the two groups which have three seats each in the union.

"Both SFI and the ABVP decided on Tuesday that the principal of the institute would preside over the prize distribution ceremony. However, the ABVP violated this agreement by replacing the principal with Krishnakumar. We were protesting against it," an SFI activist had told a news channel.