Thousands of people took part in a march organised on Saturday evening by the Wayanad district committee of the United Democratic Front to protest against the attack on the regional office of Rahul Gandhi, MP, here allegedly by Students Federation of India workers.
The march, which started from the MP’s office near North Kalpetta, culminated at Chungam Junction.
AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal, MP, KPCC president K. Sudhakaran, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, K. Muraleedharan, T.N. Prathapan, and Raj Mohan Unnithan, MPs, led the demonstration.
Inaugurating a meeting held in connection with the march, Mr. Venugopal said the attack was perpetrated with the consent of the Chief Minister’s office.
Marches to offices of MLAs and MPs were common in a democratic setup but the police would stop protesters at least 500 metres away from the offices, Mr. Venugopal said. But such a police action was not seen at the SFI march on Friday on the intervention of a top leader. As the public had the right to know the leader, the government should reveal it, he said.
Mr. Venugopal said the recent Supreme Court judgment provided for the dilution of the minimum width of eco-sensitive zones in 'overwhelming' public interest and allowed the State government to approach the Central Empowered Committee and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
But such an action should be initiated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan not by Rahul Gandhi, he said. The ball was now in the court of Mr. Vijayan, he said.
The Enforcement Directorate quizzed Mr. Gandhi for nearly 54 hours as per a directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But it stopped the attempt as officials could not find anything wrong, he said.
Now, Mr. Vijayan was trying to please Mr.Modi by attacking the office of Mr. Gandhi with the help of members of the feeder organisations of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), he alleged.
UDF district convener P.P.A. Kareem presided.
Meanwhile, some UDF workers allegedly threw stones at the office of the CPI(M) organ Desabhimani on the second floor of a building here during the march. The police have registered a case in connection with the incident.
