Kerala: 2 charged after video of youth raising 'anti-national' slogans at PFI rally

A case has been registered in Kerala after a minor boy was seen making hate slogans during a political rally last week. The development came after the Kerala High Court expressed concerns about children being used in political and religious rallies.

"Aren't they fostering a new generation that grows up with religious hatred in their minds? When this child grows up and becomes a major, his mind will already be conditioned to this kind of rhetoric. Something must be done," Justice Gopinath had said while hearing the matter on Monday.

In a video that emerged on social media, a young boy could be heard chanting slogans against Hindus and Christians at a rally believed to be organised by the Popular Front of India (PFI) in Kerala’s Alappuzha on Saturday.

In the video, the boy who was being carried on a man’s shoulders said, “Keep rice ready. Yama [god of death] will visit your home. If you live respectfully, you can live in our place. If not, we don’t know what will happen.”

The case registered against PFI Alappuzha district president, secretary and other persons under section 153A of IPC, police said.

After the video emerged, PFI spokesperson Rauf Pattambi said the slogans were not raised at the organisation’s conference but during a rally in which thousands of people participated.

Further, he said the slogans were not against Hindus or Christians but "Hindutva terrorists and fascists".

The PFI, in an internal note, which was made available to the media, said such slogans were against the policy of the outfit and would look into the matter.

“We have given approved slogans which were to be raised in the public rally at Alappuzha. Thousands of party workers and others joined the rally protesting against the RSS. The visual of a boy raising slogans came to our notice now. Those slogans were not approved or given by the organisers of the rally. It’s not the policy of the organisation to provoke or raise provocative slogans," PFI State secretary C A Raoof said in the note.

Last year, Alappuzha witnessed back-to-back killings of a state leader of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political wing of the PFI, and a state BJP leader within 12 hours.