Amidst the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, a video of Kerala MLA PC George delivering a controversial speech is going viral on social media.
He warns people about Muslim-owned restaurants and adds that they include 'impotence-inducing' substances in their drinks to target the Hindus and Christians. Those sharing the video have stated that George is Congress leader.
(Archives of similar claims can be seen here, here and here.)
What's the issue?: This video is authentic but it dates back to 2022 when George was not a part of the Congress party but was an independent candidate.
He has now joined the BJP after his party, Kerala Janapaksham (Secular), merged with the former party in January 2024.
More about the video: We performed a search using the politician's name and some words from his speech.
This led us to a report shared by The Indian Express and NDTV on 1 May 2022.
The report mentioned that George delivered this speech at Ananthapuri Hindu Mahasammelan, a program organized with the support of Sangh Parivar (RSS) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
After this controversial speech, he was arrested. However, at this point, George was not affiliated with any party.
Let's go through the timeline of his political career: According to a report by News18, George started his political journey with Congress party.
He won in several elections between 1980 and 2022 but with different party affiliations.
He won the 1980, 1982, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 elections, however, he was with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) till 1991 and then shifted to the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) till 2006.
In 2006, George formed his own faction, Kerala Congress (Secular), and stayed with the LDF following differences with senior Kerala Congress leader PJ Joseph. However, he did not get a berth in the LDF.
George was then the Vice-chairman of Kerala Congress (M) but did not get a ministership as the UDF came to power.
After political differences between LDF and UDF, he became an independent candidate in 2016 and won from his home ground.
After the victory of 2016, George's inclination turned towards Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 2017, he became an ally of NDA after forming Kerala Jana Pakshaam.
However, in 2019, PC George’s Kerala Janapaksham disbanded and a new party Kerala Janapaksham (Secular) was formed.
His alliance with NDA did not last long and he broke ties with NDA after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In 2021, he again contested the election as an independent, but lost to the LDF candidate.
According to News18 report, George stated that Muslim voters did not support him on whom he used to win the elections, following which he started making anti-Muslim statements.
Here is when the 2022 controversial speech shown in the viral speech comes in.
Recent update: In January this year, before the Lok Sabha elections, George joined and merged the Kerala Janapakasam (Secular) Party and the BJP.
Conclusion: PC George made this anti-Muslim speech when he was an independent candidate in 2022.
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