Senior Kerala politician P.C. George was arrested on Sunday, and later given bail, after he maligned the Muslim community while addressing a Hindu Right-wing event in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

George — leader of the Kerala Janapaksham (Secular), former seven-time MLA and erstwhile Congress ally — had been gravitating towards the BJP in recent months.

George criticised the CPM-led LDF government for his arrest and said: “My arrest is a Ramazan gift for Muslim extremists.”

The police had on their own registered a hate speech case against George on Saturday night, a day after he attacked Muslims at the Ananthapuri Hindu Maha Sammelan.

A magistrate granted him conditional bail, asking him not to influence witnesses and restraining him from making inflammatory speeches.

He made a derogatory statement and repeated an allegation against halal food that Sangh parivar outfits and Right-wing Christian groups have been levelling in recent weeks.

George had been chief whip of the Congress-led UDF government of Oommen Chandy. He was then in the Kerala Congress (Mani), but later formed the Janapaksham. During the 2021 Assembly elections, George lost from Poonjar, which he had represented since 1996.

At Friday’s gathering, George had urged Hindus and Christians not to patronise commercial establishments owned by Muslims. He specifically named the Gulf-based NRI, M.A. Yusuf Ali, who owns malls in Kerala.

“Why isn’t Yusuf Ali building a mall in (Muslim-majority) Malappuram or Kozhikode? Because he doesn’t need the money of Muslims. He needs only your money,” he said. “All you women carry your children and rush to his malls. He is grabbing your money. You should never spend a rupee in such establishments.”

After being granted bail, George withdrew his statement against Ali and said he had made a mistake by accusing a “dignified” man like him.

George was picked up from his home in Erattupetta town, Kottayam district, before dawn on Sunday. Activists of CPM youth wing DYFI waved black flags and threw eggs at his car.

But the BJP rallied behind him. Junior foreign minister V. Muraleedharan rushed to the armed reserve police camp in Thiruvananthapuram where George had been taken.

But he was denied entry.