Kerala becoming a centre of Islamic fundamentalists: BJP

NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday said Kerala is becoming a centre of Islamic fundamentalists and it has sent a team of party leaders to probe the chopping off of a lecturer’s palm by a radical outfit there.

“Yes, a team has been sent to Kerala. The Left government there is not taking any action,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.

T.J. Joseph, a Malayalam teacher at the New Man College at Thodupuzha, was attacked July 4, morning while returning from church along with his sister and aged mother. His right palm was chopped off by a radical outfit for preparing a question paper with alleged inflammatory references to Prophet Mohammed.

The BJP’s four-member fact finding team comprising its leaders Haren Pathak, Pinky Anand, Wilfred Mesquita and Balasubramaniam visited Kerala Monday and is expected to submit a report to the BJP chief Nitin Gadkari Tuesday.

“Kerala is becoming a centre of Islamic fundamentalists, if the state government does not act against such activities, then the centre should,” Prasad told IANS.

Prasad also said the team would also look into other matters that is making the state a “haven” for terrorist elements.

“Abdul Nasser Madani, though let off from the Coimbatore case, which is questionable, is now a suspect in the Bangalore blasts… Kerala has become the catchment area of terrorists with LeT and other outfits operating in the state. This is a matter of serious concern,” Prasad said.

Madani, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was once arrested and imprisoned for eight years and let off, for the 1998 Coimbatore bombings that killed 60.

He is lately chargesheeted along with 31 others for involvement in the 2008 serial blasts in Bangalore that left a woman dead and 20 others injured, police said.

“Both the Congress and the Left parties have been supported by Madani’s party during elections. The BJP needs a clear picture about his involvement,” Prasad added.

Madani’s party has supported both the Congress and the Left during elections in the past. During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Madani and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan shared the stage.