Strap: Police action during cong protest
KOCHI, Dec 24: Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly
V D Satheesan on Sunday lashed out at Kerala chief minister
Pinarayi Vijayan calling him a “coward” and “arrogant” over the
police allegedly using water cannons and tear gas on Congress
leaders a day ago and lodging a case against them for
destroying public property.
Kerala Police on Saturday registered a case against state
Congress chief K Sudhakaran, Satheesan and the senior leaders,
including MP Shashi Tharoor in connection with the violence in
Thiruvananthapuram during the party’s march to the DGP
office.
The LoP, at a press meet here, questioned the rationale behind
booking the Congress leaders for criminal offences and
destruction of property when water cannons and a tear gas
shell were used against them while they were speaking on a
stage near the protest site.
State capital Thiruvananthapuram witnessed incidents of
violence on Saturday during protests organised by the Kerala
Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) in which a battery of
senior Congress leaders in Kerala, including senior MPs and
MLAs, suffered from suffocation and some were even
hospitalised after police fired tear gas shells.
Later, a case was registered by police against the MPs and
MLAs under various provisions of the IPC, including that of
rioting, obstructing roads and preventing public servants from
performing their duties, against all the leaders and the party
workers who took part in the protest.
Satheesan alleged that lodging of the case was an attempt to
scare the Congress leaders and said that it was unsuccessful.
Regarding the alleged use of water cannons and a tear gas
against the Congress leaders, he claimed it was an attempt to
harm or kill them as the CM was “angry and frustrated” over
the failure of the Nava Kerala Sadas, the state government’s
outreach programme, and Vijayan becoming a laughing stock
before the public.
The LoP said it was the CM who paved the way for conflict and
riots in the state by terming assaults on Youth Congress (YC)
and Kerala Students Union (KSU) activists as “rescue efforts”
and to continue the same.
“Now he is asking us to exercise restraint. He (CM) turned the
state into a land of goondas. The police have become mute
spectators. The CM is a coward and is arrogant…”
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“Policing in Kerala has failed. It is being controlled by a group in
the CM’s office. Left party criminals are running rampant in the
state without concern for law and order,” he alleged.
He further said that it shows the “double standards” of the CM
and his government.
The double standards are also evident in the different modes of
action taken against the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the
student wing of the CPI(M), and the YC and KSU activists with
regard to showing of black flags, Satheesan contended.
The LoP said that the Congress and the UDF would be
organising strong protests against the same in the coming days.
He said that the Congress will face the violence against its
leaders as well the YC and KSU activists both legally and
politically.
The LoP also questioned how the Nava Kerala Sadas had
benefited the public and alleged it was used by the CM to turn
the state into a place of conflict.
“He (CM) is questioning the logic or common sense of the
people through his actions. People have realised that the Nava
Kerala Sadas was a political campaign at the cost of public
money,” he claimed.
Satheesan also said that the UDF would be boycotting the
swearing-in of K B Ganesh Kumar as he was allegedly behind
the conspiracy to implicate late Congress stalwart Oommen
Chandy.
“So, we cannot go there and attend his swearing-in ceremony.
We ask the CM and the government to withdraw from the
decision to make him a minister,” he said. (PTI)
