Remarks against Jamaat: BJP’s Shobha Surendran served legal notice
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Kozhikode: A fresh political and legal confrontation has erupted in Kerala after Shobha Surendran was served a legal notice by Jamaat-e-Islami over her remarks linking the Muslim organisation to the Sreenivasan murder case.
The notice was issued after Surendran allegedly claimed that Jamaat-e-Islami had a role in the murder and described the organisation as a terrorist outfit. The organisation has strongly denied the allegations, calling them false and defamatory.
In the notice, Jamaat-e-Islami accused Surendran of making the statements to divert attention from the controversy surrounding visuals that allegedly showed the distribution of money for votes during election campaigning. It further alleged that the remarks were part of an attempt to spread Islamophobia for electoral gain.
The legal notice, sent by state secretary Shihab Pookkottur through Advocate Ameen Hassan, demands that Surendran withdraw her statements, issue a public apology, and pay ₹1 crore as compensation.
The remarks were reportedly made during a press conference held by Surendran after visuals related to alleged vote-buying surfaced during election campaigning in Palakkad.
Meanwhile, former BJP Alappuzha North district vice-president Bindu Vinayakumar levelled serious allegations against senior BJP leader Shobha Surendran.
Bindu alleged that distributing money for votes is a “regular practice” of Surendran and claimed that such payments were made during the Lok Sabha elections in Alappuzha. She stated that the matter is widely known locally and questioned why the party’s state leadership is unwilling to investigate allegations that Surendran personally threatened her.