Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan told reporters in Kozhikode on November 23, 2023 that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s barefaced defence of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) workers “who unleashed wanton violence on Youth Congress black flag demonstrators in Kannur on Tuesday” had compelled him to speak harshly.
(The alleged attack resulted in severe injuries to four Youth Congress (YC) activists, prompting the police to book 14 DYFI workers on the charge of attempted murder and aggravated assault.)
Mr. Satheesan had drawn flak from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leadership for referring to Mr. Vijayan as a “criminal lording over a gangster State” in the immediate aftermath of the street violence.
Mr. Satheesan seemed reluctant to moderate his position despite the criticism. “Only a criminal mind can justify persons who attacked a Youth Congress worker hailing from a fisherfolk family with flower pots, iron rods and helmets as the police stood by and watched approvingly. The youth’s offence was that he and a set of compatriots waved a black flag from afar as Mr. Vijayan’s motorcade swept by”.
Mr. Satheesan drew a contrast between YC’s “peaceful and muted protest” and the DYFI’s “murderous attack” on the late Chief Minister Oommen Chandy near the venue of a UDF government mass contact programme in 2013.
Mr. Satheesan warned that he would be constrained to use strident language to condemn such shamefaced defence of criminals from the Chief Minister who was constitutionally bound to uphold the law and protect the life and property of citizens.
Mr. Satheesan signalled that the Congress had not sanctioned the black flag protest that turned violent. “It was a one-off demonstration. The UDF will hold mock trials across the State to spotlight the LDF’s failures in December”, he said.
(The Indian Union Muslim League [IUML] had said its cadres would not resort to belligerent street protests or black flag demonstrations when Mr. Vijayan and his entourage reached Malappuram. Last week, an IUML leader shared the dais with Mr. Vijayan at the Navakerala Sadas in Kasaragod.)
Mr. Satheesan said he had notified the worker accused of abusing Mr. Vijayan to keep political discourse civic and polite. (In Wayanad, Mr. Vijayan had accused a Congress leader of speaking ill of his parents.)
‘Public has rejected Navakerala Sadas’
Mr. Satheesan claimed the public had rejected the Navakerala Sadas. He said the government was constrained to ferry government officials, Kudumbashree and ASHA workers, school children, teachers, and party cadres to the sparsely attended venues.
“Petitions received from the public are discarded and not acted upon. The government has no funds to give meaningful relief”, Mr. Satheesan said.
He said the government Secretariat functioning has ground to a halt, with Ministers going on a jaunt across the State on board a luxury bus. “They were breakfasting with business persons and local worthies while floods ravaged Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Thrissur”, he said.
Mr. Satheesan said potholed roads had caused the bus ferrying the Cabinet to break down in Wayanad. The police assaulted a media person who attempted to film the incident.
“These are the times we live in. After Congress workers, you (independent media persons) are the government’s target”, Mr. Satheesan said.
