A senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader in Kerala, whose party has long dismissed the concept of Love Jihad as a myth, Sangh Parivar’s vicious fabrication, now finds himself at the centre of a controversy strikingly similar to the phenomenon they denied.
PV Bhaskaran, 73, a branch committee member of the CPI(M) in Uduma, Kasaragod district, is now battling allegations from his 35-year-old daughter Sangeetha, who has accused him of keeping her confined at home for months for wanting to marry a Muslim man.
In a video released on 21 October 2025, Sangeetha introduced herself as “a prisoner in her own house” and appealed to the public and political leaders to intervene. Paralysed from the waist down after a road accident in 2023, she alleged that her parents and brother had isolated her and withheld her phone because she wished to marry Rasheed, an ayurvedic practitioner who had been treating her.
In her now-viral video, Sangeetha wanted the world to know her truth and questioned if she had the right to live freely. She also alleged that police action was being delayed because of her father’s political influence.
PV Bhaskaran’s Response
Bhaskaran, who has been with the CPI(M) since the age of 18, held a press conference the next day denying his daughter’s claims. He said the issue had “nothing to do with religion” and that his opposition stemmed from Rasheed’s personal background.
“I am a Communist. I don’t look at caste or religion,” Bhaskaran told reporters. “But my daughter’s well-being comes first. Rasheed is already married and has two children. His wife has filed a police complaint against him. He came into our lives as a therapist and then began manipulating my daughter for her compensation money.”
According to Bhaskaran, the family spent nearly ₹52 lakh on Sangeetha’s treatment after her accident, and she has since been awarded ₹1.5 crore in insurance compensation. He alleged that Rasheed was targeting that money under the pretext of marriage. “If I oppose this, it is not because he is Muslim, but because his intentions are not pure,” he said.
Police sources confirmed that Rasheed’s wife had filed a complaint against him for neglect and that he had previously been questioned regarding Sangeetha’s case.
From Denial to Reality
The episode has drawn attention because Bhaskaran had publicly ridiculed the 2023 film The Kerala Story, which depicted cases of religiously motivated targeting of non-Muslim women. At the time, he had called the film “RSS propaganda” and said Love Jihad was a myth used to polarise society.
Kasaragod, Kerala: CPI(M) leader PV Bhaskaran, who slammed ‘The Kerala Story’ as “fake propaganda”, learns truth the hard way!
His daughter, Riya(name changed), fell into an affair trap of a married Muslim man with four kids.
After going with her lover, Riya now released a… pic.twitter.com/Qf18Ln9Cxc
— Treeni (@TheTreeni) October 27, 2025
However, his daughter’s case has forced uncomfortable questions for the CPI(M) and others who have long dismissed interfaith exploitation as a right-wing invention.
Sangeetha’s accusations have divided public opinion: while many sympathise with her claim of confinement, others see the incident as proof that Bhaskaran’s family has fallen prey to the very pattern the Left refuses to acknowledge.
Police are continuing their inquiry. Meanwhile, Sangeetha’s friend Arjun, who earlier filed a habeas corpus petition in the Kerala High Court seeking her release, withdrew it after the court noted inconsistencies and observed that “third parties may be acting on behalf of someone else.”
Political Irony
For Kerala’s ruling CPI(M), which has consistently denied that any organised pattern of Love Jihad exists in the state, the episode is politically awkward.
While Bhaskaran insists that his daughter’s case is a matter of family and financial concern, his situation underscores what critics call a “pattern of selective denial” within Kerala’s Left establishment which has often dismissed reports of targeted interfaith manipulation until it strikes closer to home.
(Source: Organiser)
Subscribe to our channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and YouTube to get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.
