CPI slams reports linking Youtuber Jyoti Malhotra to Kerala govt event

CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar added that the BJP has a long list of embarrassments involving its members linked to "espionage and terrorism"

The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Monday strongly condemned reports that YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who has been arrested on espionage charges, was invited by the Kerala government for promoting tourism in the state.

"The Communist Party of India strongly condemns the BJP's attempt to drag the Kerala government into the Jyoti Malhotra espionage case to cover up its own grave failures on national security," CPI MP P Sandosh Kumar said in a statement.

Kumar said it was outrageous to suggest that a state government was responsible for a YouTuber's travel to Pakistan when passport issuance, visa clearance, and intelligence monitoring are all under the control of the Union government.

"Did the Kerala government approve her visits to Pakistan? Did it place her in contact with ISI handlers in Delhi? This is a desperate and politically motivated deflection," he said.

He added that the BJP has a long list of embarrassments involving its members linked to "espionage and terrorism."  "Dhruv Saxena from its IT Cell in Bhopal, Bajrang Dal's Balram Singh, LeT terrorist Talib Shah who was appointed BJP Minority Morcha IT head, and former BJP leader Tariq Mir arrested for arms supply to militants. Even DSP Davinder Singh, awarded the President's Medal, was caught escorting Hizbul terrorists and later linked to Pakistani handlers. This is the BJP's real national security record," he said.

Kumar also pointed out that the perpetrators of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack were yet to be traced and arrested.

"Instead of taking responsibility, the BJP is now targeting Kerala over a routine tourism event Malhotra once attended despite no link between that and her ISI recruitment. The Centre's own agencies failed to detect multiple Pakistan trips and foreign funding, all under their direct jurisdiction," he said.

National security is a central subject, and the BJP, which governs the Centre, cannot wash its hands of "repeated intelligence lapses and the growing list of individuals with links to espionage and terror from within its fold," the CPI leader said.

"The people of India deserve accountability, not scapegoating and political vendetta," he added.

Reports have quoted an RTI response saying Malhotra was among those invited by the Kerala government to a state-run influencer collaboration programme.