Sindhu Sooryakumar, chief coordinating editor of Asianet News TV, moderated a discussion on Friday night about whether Mahishasur Jayanti could be considered an act of treason. Since then, she has been inundated with threats and has received about 2000 calls. These calls were allegedly from activists and sympathisers of various pro-Hindutva groups who accused her of calling Durga a “sex worker” on her show.
According to The Indian Express, the words were actually read out by V V Rajesh, BJP state secretary, while quoting from pamphlets that he claimed were distributed on the JNU campus and then produced in Parliament by HRD Minister Smriti Irani. The report adds that on Monday, the Kerala police had arrested five people based on Sindhu's complaint. G Sparjan Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Thiruvananthapuram city, was quoted by the daily as saying that all of those arrested were connected to the BJP, RSS and Hindu groups, including Sri Rama Sena.
The daily adds that one of those arrested got Sindhu's number from a WhatsApp group 'Sanga Dhwani'. One of the members on the group reportedly shared her number and asked people to call and abuse her. Three of those arrested were reportedly from Sri Rama Sena, which is known for its moral policing.
Sindhu said she was was threatened, abused and called a prostitute as well. While BJP's VV Rajesh reportedly told her he would assist in any investigation, Sindhu said that his party had not disowned the rumour yet, and BJP-RSS leaders in Kerala were silent on the issue.
After evading questions on the issue on Monday, BJP’s Kerala chief Kummanam Rajasekharan later took to Facebook to write that the BJP had nothing to do with the matter.
The police are now trying to trace the Facebook user who first posted about the issue and also WhatsApp groups that are sharing Sindhu's number.
According to Sindhu, the Asianet office has also been flooded with calls from people who could not call her directly. The state’s journalists’ union organised a protest and a march to the Kerala Secretariat on Monday, seeking action against the culprits, adds the report.
