Home Minister Is Guilt-Ridden; Delhi-Like Situation Must Not Arise in Keralam, Says Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan said the attack carried out by the police and Youth Congress at the University Hostel in Thiruvananthapuram was unacceptable. He said Keralam should not witness a situation in which students are treated the way they are in Delhi. He was speaking while seeking permission to move an adjournment motion demanding action over the police crackdown on students in Thiruvananthapuram.

Pinarayi said Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala’s response, in which he defended the police action, suggested that he felt guilty about what had happened.

Young people and supporters of democracy across the country are jointly protesting against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Pinarayi said. However, the Youth Congress had diverted its protest over the issue towards students at the university hostel. He added that flaming torches and bottles were thrown into the hostel. He also questioned how students shouting during a power cut could be considered provocation against the Youth Congress.

During the Emergency, police would stay behind while attackers armed with weapons, including machetes, led assaults. The police would then target those who tried to defend themselves, he said, describing it as the practice at the time. In the present incident, however, police personnel entered the hostel after the Youth Congress attack and brutally assaulted students.

Pinarayi alleged that police personnel used both hands to wield their batons and aimed their blows at students’ heads. Students Venu and Sreekumar sustained head injuries, while Vaishnavi was injured in the eye. He demanded an inquiry into why the police had struck students on the head.

He said the procession had been deliberately planned to begin in front of the hostel, although protests do not normally start from that location. The attack was premeditated, he alleged. Even the ambulance carrying the injured students was blocked, he said, adding that Youth Congress workers had also run riot in the vicinity of the General Hospital.

Pinarayi held the Cantonment sub-inspector and circle inspector responsible for the incident. He also alleged that police personnel visited the house of the SFI district secretary, displayed a gun and issued threats. He questioned how the police had acquired such excessive confidence to engage in these actions.

He cited other incidents involving attacks on Left youth and student activists. Youth Congress workers had attacked a DYFI night march in Adoor, he said. In Palakkad, a police officer who was heavily intoxicated had assaulted SFI activists, while DYFI workers in Kuttiady were brutally beaten before being locked up in a police cell.

Pinarayi also referred to an attack by Sangh Parivar activists on the Thiruvananthapuram DCC office and an incident in which a minister was stopped on the road. He said no strong action had been taken in those cases and accused the government of adopting a position that avoided taking significant action against the Sangh Parivar.