In a video that emerged on social media, a younger boy can be heard chanting slogans purportedly towards Hindus and Christians at a rally.
The video is believed to be from a march organised with the aid of Muslim group Popular Front of India (PFI) in Kerala’s Alappuzha on Saturday.
In the video, the boy being carried on a man’s shoulders said, “Keep rice ready. Yama [god of death] will visit your home. If you stay respectfully, you can live in our place. If not, we don’t recognize what will happen.”
“Involving young people in such things to do is in opposition to the Juvenile Justice act. We’re writing to the concerned district to file an FIR. Strict motion have to be taken. This is a cognizable offence,” National Commission for Protection of Child Rights chief Priyank Kanoongo stated on the matter.
PFI’S STATEMENT
After the video emerged, PFI spokesperson Rauf Pattambi said the slogans had been no longer raised at the organisation’s conference however all through a rally in which hundreds of people participated.
Further, he said the slogans had been not against Hindus or Christians however Hindutva terrorists and fascists.
“Many raised slogans against Hindutva terror. This boy also raised slogans. We regret few traces of the slogans and will seem to be into it. His slogans have been not in opposition to Hindus or Christians but against Hindutva terrorists planning genocide,” said Rauf Pattambi.
He added, “No media protected the principal slogan of our event, which used to be ‘protect the republic’.”
The police in Alappuzha are searching into the matter.
