Responding to criticism directed at him of being a Sangh Parivar supporter since his retirement amidst a conflict with the LDF government in Kerala, former DGP TP Senkumar said on Friday that if telling the truth made one a Sanghi, the everyone should be called a Sanghi.
The Hindu reports that the former top cop made the statement at a BJP event held in Thiruvananthapuram to welcome new members to the party. He said, “If anyone is labelled as a Sanghi for speaking the truth everyone could be named so,” and stated that he did not mind being labelled a Sanghi for speaking the truth.
Speaking about attending events held by different political parties in the past, he said, “I have attended and inaugurated several programmes organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami, DYFI and the Congress in the past. But my participation in BJP programmes is irking many.”
As reported in The Indian Express, he said that he is being ostracised for his political views. “Recently, I have been facing untouchability, which I hadn’t experienced in the past. So, I thought I should end that. Hence, I came to attend this event to end that untouchability.” He also said that while he had taken no decision on joining the BJP or RSS, he would continue to attend events by the RSS-led Seva Bharati, an NGO that he claimed rendered selfless service to the nation.
At the same event, The New Indian Express reports that he also made references to the phone and email snooping controversy that had surrounded the final years of his tenure, when he was accused of snooping on certain political leaders and email IDs as the solar scam broke out in Kerala back in 2012. He said, “The e-mail IDs were selected for monitoring by my predecessor in the ADGP Intelligence post. I only identified a person who leaked out the classified information.” He also stated that the snooping began at the time when the CPI(M) was in power in Kerala, and current Secretary of the CPI(M) Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was the Home Minister.