Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan warned of legal action against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders who raised slogans against Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, at a public event.
Tushar, who spoke at the Sivagiri Madam in Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram on March 12, was heckled by RSS-BJP activists when he said that communalism was like cancer affecting the nation’s soul and the Sangh Parivar was spreading it.
Condemning the incident, Pinarayi Vijayan said. “Our culture respects opposition and their viewpoints. The Sangh Parivar is tarnishing it. Kerala will never tolerate this attempt to block the international and national figure,” he noted.
Tushar was confronted by RSS-BJP activists after his speech, who surrounded him, raised slogans and demanded he withdraw his statement. “They said I made some objectionable comments, and they wanted me to retract those comments,” he told the media. Tushar said he refused to do so. He raised a ‘Jai Gandhi’ slogan and left the premises.
Tusahr arrived in Kerala to celebrate the centenary year of the Sree Narayana Guru’s meeting with Mahatma Gandhi at the Madhom. “I was talking about the message on Narayana Guru and Bappu (Gandhi) and warned the audience about the poisonous campaign of hate the RSS and BJP used to get power in this country. So, I called the RSS a poisonous organisation,” Tushar said
He also said that he has no intention of taking any legal action. “I believe in democracy. I believe that in a democracy, everybody has the right to protest as long as the protests are conducted in a dignified manner,” he said.