Setback for top BJP leader PC George as Kerala govt moves for cancelling anticipatory bail

Kochi, July 8 (IANS) Seven-time legislator P.C. George, who joined the BJP last year, suffered a jolt on Tuesday when the Kerala government approached the high court seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to him in a 2022 hate-speech case.

George had been charged with making offensive statements against Muslims.

Incidentally, he was out on bail on the condition that he would not commit similar offences or make provocative statements.

But the state government alleges that George flouted the bail conditions by indulging in another act of hate speech against the minority community during a TV channel debate this year.

He is accused of equating the community with terrorists and is booked under various provisions of the BNS under a fresh FIR.

But George has claimed he did not make the statements with an intention to promote ill will against the community and that he was "provoked" by a co-panellist.

The leader is known for his razor-sharp tongue, and over the years, he has landed himself in numerous troubles on account of it.

74-year-old George has had a roller coaster ride in Kerala politics and has shifted his allegiance to various political parties in the state.

In 2016, he contested as a candidate of his own political outfit and opposing him were the three political fronts' candidates, but he came out as the winner.

But at the 2021 Assembly polls, the string of his electoral victories ended when he was defeated by a candidate from the erstwhile party that he belonged to.

After that, George was drifting and in 2024, just before the Lok Sabha polls, he and his son led his party into a merger with the BJP.

But after joining the BJP, he has not been able to flex his muscles as he did in the past, and he is now more or less gone into the political wilderness.

--IANS

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