Kamal is a worker of “extremist outfits”, alleges A.N. Radhakrishnan.

General secretary of the BJP in Kerala A.N. Radhakrishnan has asked Kerala Chalachitra Academy chairman and filmmaker Kamal to move out of the country if he could not obey the directives of the Supreme Court in singing the national anthem.

At a news conference here on Monday, held in connection with the party’s north Kerala regional yatra, Mr. Radhakrishnan alleged that Kamal was a worker of “extremist outfits” such as the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).

Over a fortnight ago, Mr. Radhakrishnan had kicked up a controversy by questioning the motive behind the statement of Jnanpith Award winner M.T. Vasudevan Nair that the common man bore the brunt of the Centre’s demonetisation drive, and said the writer was no economist to speak about the advantages of a cashless economy.

Mr. Radhakrishnan also asked the CPI(M) leadership to remove posters and pictures of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, which the party maintained along with Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekenanda, Mother Teresa and Sree Narayana Guru at its offices and functions, as he symbolised brutality and barbarism.

“The CPI(M) had propagated Che Guvara as a hero in Kerala’s rural areas. No wonder its activists employ the same method of violence adopted by Che Guvera against political rivals,” he said.