The Vadakara constituency in Kerala is still simmering, weeks after the Lok Sabha elections were conducted, over the alleged instigation of communal sentiments during the polling.
There seems to be a perennial trading of allegations between the CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF over a WhatsApp message that remarked Congress candidate Shafi Parambil as a ‘devout Muslim’ while derogating CPI(M) candidate KK Shilaja as a ‘Kafir’ (non-believing) woman.
The chaos erupted a day before the electioneering on April 24, when a screenshot of a “communally loaded WhatsApp message purportedly attributed to a worker of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) was widely circulated in the constituency,” The Indian Express reported.
“Shafi is a Muslim who offers prayers five times a day,” the message read while calling the other candidate “a ‘Kafir’ woman.”
“Whom should we vote for? Think before voting. Vote for one among us,” the message further said.
In response, the CPI (M) launched a counter-campaign on social media, stating, “During the days of Nipah, floods, and the pandemic, it was the kafir woman ‘Shailaja, former health minister’ who held all of us close irrespective of caste and religion.”
Alleging that the UDF was engaged in a communal campaign in the Vadarkara Lok Sabha constituency, the CPI (M) also complained to the Election Commission and attributed the message to a Youth League worker in the constituency as the person behind the message.
However, the Congress refuted all the allegations and claimed that the message had been created by the CPI (M) to win votes by instigating communal sentiments.
“I am convinced that the message was fabricated. The CPI (M) is raising the allegations using the fake screenshot,” Shafi alleged.
On Thursday, May 16, the IUML rallied to the office of the Kozhikode rural SP, demanding the arrest of the person behind the ‘fake screenshot.’
“We want the accused to be arrested before the election results are out,” IUML secretary MK Muneer said.
