Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has condemned the alleged death threat against veteran actor Kamal Haasan by a Hindu Mahasabha leader and demanded his arrest.
Religious fanatics and radical minds issuing such threats should be immediately arrested, he posted on Facebook two days after a senior leader of the Hindu outfit reportedly said people like Haasan should be "shot dead".
"Strongly condemn such criminal attempts against Kamal Haasan's freedom of speech by threatening to murder him by Hindu Mahasabha leader(s).
"Such religious fanatics and radical minds issuing murder/assassination threats should be immediately arrested by the concerned authorities an stringent legal action is needed against these persons who threatened to kill Kamal Haasan (sic)," Vijayan said.
He said the nation knows what happened to "Mahatma Gandhi, Pansare, Dhabolkar, Kalburgi, Gauri Lankesh and why?"
"I strongly condemn anyone following any religion or caste or gender resorting to terrorism to accomplish their communal agenda to spread unrest in society and destabilise the country," he added.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted: "I join @vijayanpinarayi in demanding arrest& prosecution of those inciting violence against KamalHaasan. #StopHate."
On November 2, Kamal Haasan had in his column in Tamil weekly 'Ananda Vikatan' claimed that right-wing groups have taken to violence because their earlier "strategy" has stopped working.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)