Kerala: Congress to defy order denying permission for Pro-Palestine rally

Nov 15, 2023

Kannur (Kerala) [India], November 15 : KPCC President K Sudhakaran has said the Congress will defy Collector Snehil Kumar Singh's order denying permission to the party to organise a rally expressing solidarity with Palestine on the Kozhikode beach on November 23, 2023.
"Whether permission is given or not, the rally will be held on Kozhikode beach. Either there will be a rally, or there will be a fight between the activists and the police. The rally will be held on the 23rd," KPCC President K Sudhakaran said.
Training guns at Kerala CM Vijayan for criticizing Shashi Tharoor's speech on the Israel-Hamas war, Sudhakaran said that hanging on a single word from Tharoor's League rally speech is a foolish thing.
Tharoor in a rally at the Indian United Muslim League (IUML) referred to Hamas as a terrorist group.
On social media, political leaders including CPM's KT Jalil and M Swaraj criticised Tharoor's remarks at the rally. Jalil said that Tharoor's speech gave the impression of being pro-Israel, which he believed was deceptive to the Palestinian people.
Sudhakaran further said that earlier the Congress party got permission for the rally, but later on they were denied.
The Congress party earlier said that it would expose the hypocrisy of the CPI(M) in the Palestine rally, which is abusing the plight of the Palestinian people for political and electoral gain in Kerala.
The KPCC President announced on Thursday that the Congress will organise a massive rally in Kerala's Kozhikode on November 23 to declare solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Sudhakaran said that All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venugopal will inaugurate the solidarity rally.
"All the people who believe in secular-democratic values will be brought together on the 23rd of this month at 4:30 pm at Kozhikode Beach. It will mobilise a large crowd and turn it into a historic event of Palestinian solidarity," Sudhakaran said.