A Kerala Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) has said that his party’s policy is to “torture those who have cheated the party and protect those who support it”.

Kerala MLA P K Sasi, who is also the Palakkad District Committee Member of CPM, made this statement welcoming a group of 50 Muslim League members defected to join his party at Karimpuzha in the district, Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi reported.

“If you stand by the party, it will help and protect you fully. But if you cheat the party, it will torture you. It is the policy of the party and especially, we all follow that,” Sasi was quoted as saying by the Malayalam daily.

Sasi had turned up at the meeting of the 50 persons joining the CPM after quitting the League to greet the new members.

The meeting to enrol these Muslim League members into the CPM has led to allegations that a large number of people took part in it despite the restrictions due to the nation-wide lockdown to curb the spread of Coronavirus being in force.

Physical distancing norms were not observed, the daily said, and added that the CPM was yet to respond to its MLA’s statement.

Later, Sasi explained that his statement was "slip of the tongue". He added that the media had exaggerated his speech, which was to give "self-confidence" to those who had come to join the CPM.

He also denied that the meeting did not observe physical distancing or the curfew norms relating to the lockdown.

The CPM MLA is no stranger to controversy as he has been caught up in a couple of issues, including allegations of sexual harassment.

In 2018, a woman Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) leader from Palakkad complained the CPM Kerala leadership alleging sexual harassment by Sasi. An individual from Palakkad petitioned the Kerala High Court for a probe into the allegations.

An investigation by the state unit of CPM gave a clean chit to Sasi, saying the DYFI leader was under pressure to complain against the MLA. The MLA, who had been suspended from the party pending inquiry, was then reinstated.

The statement is also not surprising going by repeated attacks of CPM on its former members.

In one such case, the late M V Raghavan, who quit the CPM to launch his own Communist Marxist Party in 1986, was repeatedly targeted by the Communist party.

Raghavan’s private zoo in Kannur was burned by CPM cadre and attempts were made on his life a couple of time. Later, he was arrested for the death of five CPM workers in a police firing after a judicial commission held him responsible.