KOCHI: Reiterating that ‘Kiss of Love’ movement would prevail against Fascism, the Kiss of Love (KOL) activists on Friday said it was not fair to associate the KOL to the illegal activities of Rahul Pasupalan and his wife Reshmi R Nair, who were arrested fur runnings an online flesh trade racket. “The cause for which we came together still remains relevant,” KOL activists clarified here at a press conference.
“Kiss of Love is a movement and the agitation held was based on an ideology. It was only a mode of protest. It neither has an organisational structure nor official office-bearers.
It is a movement of progressive thinking people from different socio-political-economic background. most of us came to know about Rahul through this movement only,” said Advocate Hareesh Vasudevan, a KOL activist
Hareesh said KOL activists never highlighted Rahul as leader. “It is the media which projected Rahul as an icon of KOL. Now the same media link his arrest to KOL and thereby tarnish its image.
The politics projected by KOL is still relevant and we stand by it,” he said. He also pointed out that even the investigating officer did not link Rahul’s arrest to KOL. “Even the arrest was on a complaint lodged by the KOL activists,” he said.
Journalist K K Shahina, who is also an active KOL campaigner, said, “It is just anti-democratic to ask whether KOL was a move to cover up flesh trade. People associated with religious institutions and places of worship have been nabbed for sexual crimes,” she said.