The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Guruvayur candidate, state party vice-president B Gopalakrishnan, sparked backlash on Friday after he called for a “Hindu MLA” to “reclaim the land of Guruvayurappan”.
The comments were made on a video posted on his Facebook account.
“ Neither the Left and the Right have fielded a Hindu MLA. Guruvayur is an international pilgrimage destination. Why hasn’t there been a Hindu MLA?…For the past 50 years, this land of Guruvayur is in the hands of temple looters and those who oppose temples. I have been deputed by the Lord himself to release this land from the clutches of temple looters. You must join me,” the BJP leader is heard saying in the clip.
Soon after the video was posted, the student arm of the state Congress, the Kerala Students Union (KSU), filed a complaint with the Thrissur police commissioner, demanding action over the allegedly communal remarks, said a police officer aware of the matter.
Meanwhile, the BJP leader continued to defend his remarks. “The roots of religious terrorism have deepened in this constittuency. This is a Hindu majority constituency. So why have the Left and the Right not brought a Hindu MLA here?” he asked.
The constituency is home to the famed Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple, where the deity is referred in the local language as ‘Guruvayurappan’. Gopalakrishnan’s rivals in the LDF and UDF are NK Akbar of CPI(M) and CH Rasheed of the IUML, both members of the Muslim community.
Though Guruvayur constituency’s religious demographic profile is not available, the overall population in Chavakkad taluk as per the 2011 census shows Muslims accounting for 53% of the population and Hindus 41%.
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