Four BJP activists were arrested in Palakkad on Wednesday for unfurling a giant banner with 'Jai Sri Ram' written on it from the terrace of the Palakkad municipality recently.
The arrested – Lineesh of Vadakkanthara, Dasan of Pattikkara, Binu and Unnikrishnan of Koppam – were released on station bail.
The Kerala Police on Thursday registered a case against a few BJP
workers for unfurling the banner after the party won in the recently held local body polls there.
The case was registered after the Palakkad municipal secretary filed a complaint with the police saying that "there was an attempt to destroy communal harmony.
During the victory celebrations in front of the municipality on
Wednesday evening, a few workers were seen unfurling a
giant banner with 'Jai Sri Ram' written in Malayalam and an image of
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj from the top of the building.
The party workers also unfurled another banner with pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the police said.
The party retained the municipality by winning 28 of the 52 wards.
In response, the activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) hung the national flag on the municipality building in exactly the same place where the BJP workers had put up the 'Jai Sri Ram' banner.
The DYFI leaders stated it displayed the national flag in protest against the BJP's attempt to give a communal colour to the latter's victory in the civic polls. A case was DYFI activists for taking out a protest march to the municipality and allegedly barging into the office building violating COVID19 protocol.
Meanwhile, Youth Congress and KSU workers who organized a march carrying a national flag as part of their "defend constitution march" were chased away by the police in the town on Friday.
Palakkad Municipality has a special place for BJP in Kerala. In 2015, the voters of this town in north Kerala handed the BJP the maiden mandate to run a civic body and a party candidate became the the municipal chairperson.
For aeons 'Jai Sri Ram', meaning 'Glory to Lord Rama' or 'Victory to Lord Rama' has been a popular phrase used by devout Hindus to greet each other. However, it took on political and communal colour with the growth of the Hindutva movement that aided BJP's dramatic growth since the late 1980s.
