KANYAKUMARI: Fr George Ponnaiah, a Catholic priest in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, has been booked for delivering a hate speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, DMK ministers and others.
The Panavilai parish priest was speaking at a meeting organised at Arumanai on Sunday evening. The meeting was held to condemn closure of churches, ban on conducting prayer meetings and denial of permit to build churches even on patta land and also to pay tributes to activist father Stan Swamy. Christian and Muslim leaders and representatives of various organisations participated at the meeting. Videos of his speech were circulated in social media.
In the videos of the meeting, the priest is heard saying, “Ministers P K Sekar Babu (Hindu religious and charitable endowments) and T Mano Thangaraj (information technology and Padmanabhapuram MLA) should not forget that they did not get any Hindu votes. They should not forget that their victory was the alms given by Christians and Muslims by casting their votes,” he said.
The priest also accused Nagercoil MLA M R Gandhi (BJP) as the prime accused in the 1982 Mandaikadu religious riots that claimed seven lives. He attacked the Prime Minister and Union home minister and went on to say that even BJP and RSS loyalists were ashamed to name their children after those two leaders.
BJP cadre and representatives of various Hindu outfits lodged complaints with the police in various districts demanding his arrest.
On Wednesday, the parish priest was booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language). 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 505(ii) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) and 506(i) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was also booked under section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly) of the IPC and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act for conducting the meeting in violation of the Covid-19 norms.
On Friday, the priest released a video alleging that his “speech was edited and circulated in the social media. My words were twisted as if I hurt and degraded the sentiments of Hindu brothers and sisters.” He added that he or others on stage did not speak in a manner that would hurt other religious sentiments. “In case our speech had been that way, I wholeheartedly apologise on behalf of the meeting,” he said.
He concluded the video saying such words would not be used in the future. The BJP and Hindu outfits pressed for his arrest.
Demanding his arrest and detention under the National Security Act, the BJP would stage a protest on July 28. (Times of India)
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All religious leaders must understand that they must not create hatered between people.
Unfortunately, India, a truly secular country in spirit rather than saying so emanating from the tenet of Hindu culture is exploited by political and religious leaders. It is becoming fashionable to keep Modiji as the main target of their hatred as such so-called priests can’t get away with whatever they used to say to promote and convert the masses.