Case fabricated, willing to end public life if proved guilty:

BJP Kerala President P S Sreedharan Pillai Friday said the police case against him alleging anti-Islam remarks was fabricated and he was prepared to end his public life if found guilty.

Talking to reporters at the Kozikode Press Club here, Pillai wanted to know if the complainant in the case, CPI(M) leader and MLA V Sivankutty was prepared to apologise and end his public life if the case later turned out to be false.

"I did not utter even a single word to incite communal enmity and had only said things relating to inquest procedures", he said.

There is a conspiracy between officials and the Left parties and they think that BJP leaders can be destroyed by registering false cases, which is a "pipe dream", he said.

 

Police had registered a case against Pillai under Sections 153 and 153 A of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint of Sivankutty.

Section 153 A deals with 'Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony.'

Pillai had while addressing a campaign meeting at Attingal constituency for party candidate Shobha Surendran on April 14 referred to the Balakot air strike and allegedly made some offensive remarks against the Muslim community, the complaint stated.

Kerala Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Teeka Ram Meena had recommended "appropriate action" against the BJP state chief for the alleged remarks during the election campaign meeting.

Meena said Pillai had made the remarks while countering the comments of Congress President Rahul Gandhi,CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the number of people killed in the Balakot air strike.

"Our Rahul Gandhi, Yechury, Pinarayi and all are saying that, after getting there... the dead bodies... which caste, which religion... if they are Islam then there will be a few signs...if only you remove the dresses only then it can be found out. So after doing all that, we should come back is what they say," Pillai had said, according to the CEO's report to the EC.