Kerala priest slams BJP candidate for fake election propaganda video
Fr Paul Thekkanath, vicar of Puthukkad, filed a complaint over a video by the ruling National Democratic Alliance. Supporters of Suresh Gopi used portions of a speech by the clergyman to suggest that he was backing their candidate. Christian voters are an important electorate in the southern Indian state.
Delhi (AsiaNews) – India’s election marathon is now in its second phase, but controversy has erupted over a video in which remarks by a priest are improperly used to support a candidate of the ruling party.
In the video to woo Catholic voters released by the National Democratic Alliance, a coalition that also includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Suresh Gopi, who is running for the BJP, used portions of a speech by Fr Paul Thekkanath, vicar of Puthukkad, which is in the Thrissur constituency, Kerala.
The pro-ruling party video urges Catholics to support Gopi for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's parliament, but Fr Thekkanath filed a complaint with the cyber police, alleging that it is a fake.
According to the clergyman, the video incorporates bits of a speech he gave months ago during a meeting with university students to create a fake video that is circulating on social media.
According to the Telegraph, BJP supporters took portions of the vicar’s speech to make it appear that he was urging voters to back their candidate, Suresh Gopi. In the complaint he filed with local police, Fr Thekkanath says that bits from a speech he gave on 2 December 2023 were used.
On that occasion, Gopi was visiting a Catholic institute for an outreach programme. Standing next to the politician, the priest said: “Only when we run together can we achieve victory. So, if we run along with Suresh Gopi sir we can achieve that.”
Members of the BJP and the ruling alliance began reposting the fake video on social media, to make it appear that the priest was appealing to Christians to vote for Gopi, a famous actor now in politics.
On Thursday, the candidate visited the George Forane Church in Aruvithura, near Pala, followed by a meeting with the Syro-Malabar bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt of Kanjirappally, Mar Jose Pulickal, and the Secretary General of the G. Nair Service Society, Sukumaran Nair.
.png)
23/02/2024 19:29
07/02/2019 17:28
