A political storm erupted in Kerala on Sunday after the police, under Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, surrounded the residence of right-wing commentator T.G. Mohandas and arrested him. The 71-year-old was taken into custody over his remarks regarding a hypothetical response to a Prime Minister’s handling of violent protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. The high-handed nature of the arrest—reminiscent of an operation against a hardened criminal, complete with a cordoned-off home and hours of search operations—has triggered intense debate over whether such draconian measures were justified against a senior citizen.
T.G Mohandas was neither absconding nor defying the police. He had no reason to be “hunted down” or dramatically “picked up.” A simple phone call would have been enough for him to walk into the police station and present himself.
Mohandas was making a hypothetical argument about how he would have handled the situation if he were in the position of the Prime Minister, President or another public authority. Mohandas’ statements were subsequently taken out of context, with additional interpretations added to create a controversy and portray the right-wing thinker negatively.
Mohandas has the right to express his own views, and disagreement with those views does not justify distorting or misrepresenting his remarks.
What Mohandas said
In videos uploaded on his YouTube channel Pathrika in late July 2026, Mohandas, a former BJP intellectual cell convenor known for blunt commentary, discussed the prolonged Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)-led student protests over the NEET paper-leak controversy. On the handling of the protest, he laid out a hypothetical scenario of how he would restore order if he were in charge: “I will impose a curfew in about a 4 square kilometre area around Jantar Mantar. Then I would announce thrice for the crowd to disperse. After that, I will open fire. People will scatter away and run for their lives.”
Mohandas later described the comments as satirical and hypothetical, arguing that short clips stripped of the longer Malayalam discussion’s context and tone turned pointed political invective into something darker. The distinction matters.
Abuses hurled on PM Modi and his mother – No Arrest Yet!
Transgender Jaanmoni Das made abusive and derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother during the CJP protest. An FIR was registered in the case, but no arrest has been made so far. Abusing a PM and his late mother is not an issue for the Muslim League led Congress government of Keralam.
However, T.G. Mohandas was taken into custody from his Kochi residence and formally arrested over his remarks on the Jantar Mantar NEET protest and that too after a coordinated campaign in social media against him by the left liberals with false narrative. The contrasting treatment has raised questions about whether Kerala is applying the same standards of law enforcement to politically sensitive speech.
How Left-Liberals Twisting Mohandas’s Words Into a ‘Rape Call’ Narrative
The controversy took another turn when Mohandas’s remarks were allegedly reframed by Left-leaning journalists and liberal commentators to create the impression that he had also made a reference to rape. Mohandas, however, did not mention the word “rape” in the statement at the centre of the controversy. His remarks, however provocative, were about how he would hypothetically deal with the CJP’s NEET protest and included an extreme reference to shooting protesters and taking their bodies to a hospital.
His remarks, however provocative, were about how he would hypothetically deal with the CJP’s NEET protest. The sections of the Left-liberal media ecosystem transformed a controversial statement into a far more serious allegation—a supposed “rape call” that does not appear in Mohandas’s actual words. The central question, therefore, is whether this was a genuine interpretation of an ambiguous remark or a deliberately constructed narrative designed to intensify outrage against Mohandas.
How Kerala’s State Machinery Targets Hindu Voices While Shielding Real Offenders
Even after filing a case regarding a lottery ticket that depicted menstrual blood flowing onto a Shivalinga under the pretext of freedom of expression, no action has been taken till date. This is a land that gives accolades and awards to those who insult Hindu gods, yet a state like Keralam suspends a person for creating a quiz question about Veerd Savarkar. Was the ‘deep state machine’ who threatened to shoot and kill millions of people who voted for the BJP arrested? No, we will not agree to that.
But there are so many anti-national incidents taking place in Kerala, yet no action is being taken against those responsible. Complaints have reportedly been filed at police stations across the state against a person who allegedly threatened to shoot the Prime Minister dead, but he has still not been arrested. To date, no case has been registered against the key person associated with a reporter channel who allegedly said that the city should be burnt if youths took to the streets.
Kerala has even honoured those who allegedly insult Hindu gods, while suspending a person for creating a quiz question about Veer Savarkar. Did they arrest the “deep-state machine” that allegedly threatened to shoot crores of people who voted for the BJP? No. We cannot accept such selective action.
In a state where there appears to be little prosecution against those accused of making or engaging in anti-national statements or activities, arresting T.G. Mohandas by portraying him like a terrorist—without an academic-level discussion of the subject, circumstances and context of his remarks—is reprehensible.
According to VHP leader Anil Vilayil, distorting Mohandas’s remarks and using them to justify such action raises serious questions about selective enforcement and political bias.
“Kerala is a place where no cases are registered against those who engage in or speak of anti-national activities. The arrest of Mr. Mohandas—by twisting what he said to give him a terrorist persona without conducting an academic-level discussion on the topic, background, and context of his statement—is highly condemnable, ” Anil said.
