After being released on bail in a hate speech case, Kerala senior politician PC George defended his controversial remarks and claimed that his arrest was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s “Ramadan gift for terrorist Muslims.” The former Chief Whip of the state Assembly and long-time MLA was arrested on May 1, Sunday, for communal and inflammatory speech against the Muslims. He got conditional bail in the afternoon.
While speaking to the media, outside the magistrate’s residence after getting bail, PC George said that he still stands by what he said.
“I will say one thing very clearly. I stand firm on all things I have said. If I ever said something wrong, I never hesitated to withdraw it. My speech was at the venue of the Hindu Maha Sammelan. What I said was that I don’t need the votes of Muslim fundamentalists, I don’t need the vote of anyone — be it Christian, Muslim or Hindu — who does not love India. How can I become a communal person for saying this? My arrest is respected Pinarayi Vijayan’s gift on Ramadan for the terrorist Muslims,” he said. Ramadan concludes in Kerala on Monday, as Eid will be celebrated on Tuesday, May 3, in the state.
PC George secured conditional bail on Sunday afternoon, as the politician told the media after his release, and the magistrate had directed him not to influence the media, not to generate hatred and not to get involved in controversial things.
Early on Sunday, officials from the Fort police station in Thiruvananthapuram took George into custody from his residence at Erattupetta in Kottayam for his remarks at the Hindu Maha Sammelan. The former MLA from Poonjar, addressing a programmme organised as a part of the ongoing Ananthapuri Hindu Maha Sammelan, had urged non-Muslims to boycott businesses run by Muslims. He even said that “tea laced with drops causing impotence” was sold in Muslim-run restaurants to turn people infertile in a bid to seize control of the country — a claim which has been established as fake multiple times in the past.
It is not the first time PC George has found himself in a controversy. The MLA is known for his obscene language and derogatory comments against women and for making anti-Dalit comments. In the 2021 Assembly elections, no political party wished to give him a ticket and he contested the elections as an independent candidate. George lost the Assembly elections from Poonjar in 2021.