KOZHIKODE: Kerala police on Saturday registered a case against several persons over a cultural programme which allegedly depicted Muslims as extremists.
The musical programme was presented by performance group MATHA Perambra on January 3 during the inaugural ceremony of the five-day youth festival here. It depicted the Indian Army apprehending a man sporting a Keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headgear worn by men. Sources claimed that when the dance was performed before the screening committee, it was done without the costume.
MATHA, a well-known performance group rejected the charges and had said that the alleged depiction of a person as extremist with Muslim outfit was not "intentional" and they have no connection with any particular political party or ideology.
A senior police officer confirmed that a case has been registered against 10 persons, following the directions of a magisterial court. A complaint was lodged by one Anoop VR in this regard.
Anoop moved the court after police refused to register a case despite his lodging a complaint.
The programme kicked up a political storm with the CPI (M) reiterating that the party and its government would never take a stand against any particular religious community or faith, while the Congress said the Left government and the Chief Minister should bear moral responsibility towards the event conducted as part of the state-run youth festival.
The issue had snowballed into a political controversy with opposition Congress demanding an apology from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Thereafter, General Education Minister V Sivankutty instructed the Director of Public Instructions (DPI) to probe into the matter.
Tourism Minister P A Mohammed Riyas had also said there were attempts in the country to portray a particular community as extremist and the alleged association, if any, of the person in charge of that particular programme with the Sangh Parivar needs to be investigated.
On the other hand, BJP state chief K Surendran had criticised the Left government over its decision to ban the performance group from further such events, saying it was a "surrender to religious extremists".
A group of artists are being banned by the Left government which always waxes eloquent about the freedom of expression but unfortunately, writers and intellectuals were not ready to question this, he had said.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) condemned the depiction of the minority community in a bad light during the musical programme.