Malappuram: A Facebook post along with a troll image criticising Congress party’s move to field Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad, posted by higher education minister K T Jaleel , has drawn criticism from various corners as the image allegedly promotes racism.Jaleel, through his FB post on Sunday had urged Rahul to dare to fight against the tiger in a den, not in a rat’s burrow. The troll image he used along with the post asked whether Hindi-speaking migrant workers, apart from being used for menial works such as pasting posters and doing coolie jobs, were also being used as candidates by the Congress party. The post triggered an uproar on social media and MLA V T Balram strongly condemned the minister’s act. Balram said that Jaleel’s comment was racist and insulting to north Indians. The UDF also organized a protest meet at Edappal against the statement of Jaleel on Monday.Later, in a clarification post on FB, Jaleel said that the troll image he used was critical but harmless. “Through the troll what I meant was being a candidate is as respectable as pasting posters and doing coolie jobs but even for any of these Malayalis are unavailable. It was a sarcastic troll criticizing Malayalis who rely on migrant labourers for all major jobs. That jocular post is being circulated as an offensive one,” he said.Responding to Balram’s criticism, Jaleel said that like ‘Islamophobia’, ‘Communistophobia’ also should be opposed as both are signs of intolerance.Meanwhile, in another post, Jaleel said that Rahul contesting in Wayanad with the support of Jamaat-e-Islami, which has already extended support to the UDF in Kerala, would send a wrong message at the national level. “Kashmiri Jamaat-e-Islami’s office was the only office of a religious organization that was raided after the Pulwama incident. The name, ‘Kashmiri’ in Kashmiri Jamaat-e-Islami connotes that the Jamaat-e-Islami always has a double stance. I would like to remind you (Rahul) that the face they have in Kashmir is allegedly veiled in other parts of Indian Union,” he said.

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