BJP should stop 'producing fake news', says Yechury

CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday slammed BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje for her tweet in which she had alleged that Hindus of Kuttipuram in Malappuram were being denied water as they supported CAA, and said that the "ruling party should stop producing fake news".

"This is a fabricated story. It has been proven that it was total falsehood and therefore a case has been filed for spreading falsehood and creating enmity between people. That has to be done because based on this type of false news circulating, they (BJP) are creating an atmosphere of hate and violence which is not in the interests of the country," Yechury told ANI here.

"BJP should stop doing fake news production, it is really harming the unity of the country and is against the country's interest," he said.

The Kerala Police registered a case against Karandlaje and others under Section 153 (A) of the IPC for putting out posts on social media that Hindu families in Malappuram were not given water for extending their support to the CAA.

The case was registered based on a complaint by Subhash Chandran KR, a Supreme Court advocate and resident of Malappuram.

Yechury also supported the statement of Maharashtra Home Minister regarding phone tapping of opposition leaders during the previous BJP government in Maharashtra.

"If the Home Minister of Maharashtra is making such revelations then obviously all the doubts in the mind of political leaders since 2014 are correct. Indulging in this sort of spying to get control over what others are doing is something which is totally unacceptable in a democracy," he said.

"The right to privacy is a fundamental right and the BJP is violating the right. Therefore, I hope the investigation will concretise how things were happening and the culprit must be punished."

Earlier today, Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Anil Deshmukh had said that the previous BJP government in the state had engaged in the tapping of phones of Congress and NCP leaders.