Accusing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] of unleashing a political attack on Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to deflect attention from his pointed queries, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran said that people would come forward to defend the Governor against the relentless attacks.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, he said the Governor’s accusation that the Chief Minister directed the police not to investigate the ‘attack’ against him at the Indian History Congress venue in Kannur two years ago, points to the state of police force under the current government.
“Whenever the State’s police force attempts to carry out an honest investigation, the government interferes to derail it. Now, the Kozhikode CPI(M) district leadership has criticised the City Police Commissioner for taking action against DYFI activists who had assaulted the security staff at the Kozhikode medical college. How can a common citizen get justice here when the Governor himself is not getting it? This shows that the police force is being made to function as per the interests of the CPI(M),” he said.
Mr. Surendran also trained his guns on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, which he accused was blind to the political issues in Kerala. Neither Mr. Gandhi nor the senior leaders accompanying the yatra had uttered a word against the ‘anti-people’ policies of the State government. Even Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan had made it clear that this was not a yatra against the CPI(M).
“When the yatra is passing through Alappuzha, they have not talked about the attacks unleashed by the Popular Front of India and other religious fundamentalist organisations in the district in recent months. Doesn’t Rahul Gandhi have any concern about these organisations which are attempting to divide our society? Why has he not met the bishops who raised concern about ‘love jihad’ and ‘narcotic jihad’? Yet, he has found enough time to spend time with a Christian priest in Tamil Nadu known for his anti-national views,” said Mr. Surendran.
