First Published Jun 25, 2022, 1:40 PM IST
വThe security of the CPI (M) Central Committee office in Delhi has been beefed up in protest of the attack on Yanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s Kalpetta office (Rahul Gandhi MP’s Office Attack) and the beating of three employees. In the last few days, the Directorate of Enforcement has been questioning Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. All these days, the Congress has been staging protests at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Delhi Police and Congress activists clashed in the streets. The leaders were arrested by the police at an AICC headquarters. Shortly afterwards, the CPI (M)’s student wing SII Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s office was vandalized in Wayanad over the buffer zone issue. Following this, the Delhi Police increased security for the CPI (M) Central Committee office. The AKG Center in Thiruvananthapuram has also been under heavy police security since last night. Asianet News cameramen from Delhi Vadivel P, Deepu M NairFrom Wayanad Pratheesh Kapoth, From Thiruvananthapuram Sajayan The pictures were taken by
Police have stepped up their investigation into a case of assault on an MP’s office. Police have so far arrested 19 SFI activists. Police arrested 19 people, including SFI district president Joel Joseph, secretary Jishnu Shaji and minister Veena George’s personal staff Avishit.
Minister Veena George has stated that Avishit is not his staff at present and that Avishit left earlier this month for personal reasons. Avishit is a former SFI district vice president. It was also reported that CPM leaders were trying to remove Avishit from the list of accused.
The state government has announced a high-level inquiry into the violence as protests intensify. ADGP Manoj Abraham is in charge of the investigation. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed the Additional Chief Secretary for Home Affairs to submit the report within a week.
Meanwhile, the SFI Central Committee said that the attack on Rahul Gandhi’s office was unfortunate. Wayanad does not support the work of SFI. The Central Committee said in a statement that it would investigate the incident and take organizational action.
The SFI state leadership also said that it could not accept the district committee-led agitation and subsequent attack on the office of Rahul Gandhi MP. However, the SFI state committee said in a statement that it would seize the opportunity and mobilize students to resist the right-wing move to attack the SFI.
The state leadership also said that the SFI state committee had not decided to take up the issue raised in connection with the Supreme Court order regarding the buffer zone of the protected forest area. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a press release that he strongly condemned the violence.
Left Front convener EP Jayarajan also came out against the action of the district committee. Left Front convener EP Jayarajan said there was no need to march to Rahul Gandhi’s office. Meanwhile, K Muraleedharan MP said that the Congress leadership could not stop the Congress workers from doing anything to protest the attack on the office.
K Muraleedharan alleged that the CPM had done something to make the BJP happy by attacking the MP’s office yesterday. The SFI MP marched to the office knowing the CPM state leadership. The UDF will consider boycotting the CM’s programs. The MP’s office violence came after the Indira Bhavan attack.
Earlier, Swapna Suresh, a co-defendant in the case, had revealed that the Chief Minister and his family were involved in a case of smuggling gold through the UAE consulate’s diplomatic baggage. Following this, the Congress staged protests all over the state. There were also protests against the Chief Minister during the flight.
Following this, CPI (M) DYFI activists marched to the KPCC office headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram and to the official residence of the Leader of the Opposition. Following this, Rahul Gandhi’s office was vandalized by SFI student activists over the buffer zone issue under consideration by the Supreme Court.
Muraleedharan reiterated that the leadership could not stop Congress workers from doing anything else on this issue. Muraleedharan said the party would protect this legally. Muraleedharan added that the CPM would be responsible for such attacks.
Congress-Youth Congress-KSU workers staged a statewide protest last night. The Congress march to the AKG Center in the capital, Thiruvananthapuram, was stopped by the police. The AKG Center was heavily guarded. The water cannon was set up here at night. Activists then staged a protest in front of the university.
The protest which started in Wayanad yesterday had spread to all the districts and the national capital. The Youth Congress marched to the SFI office in Delhi. The KSU march started from the Ernakulam DCC office and burnt the poster of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Activists also protested by burning tires on the road.
Youth Congress workers staged a huge protest in Palakkad city. The protesters blocked the national highway. The road to Thrissur was blocked by Shafi Parampil and the Coimbatore road was blocked by Sar. The activists stood for a long time with a torchlight procession. Congress-Youth Congress workers lit torches in all the district centers.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders intensified their protest by questioning whether the attack on Rahul Gandhi’s office was to appease Narendra Modi, the Sangh Parivar and the BJP. KPCC president K Sudhakaran said the SFI move was the latest example of the politics of violence and intolerance put forward by the Left.
It is only natural that the balance of the Left should be disturbed when there is constant evidence and revelation that the Chief Minister is directly involved in unheard of crimes in the country. K Sudhakaran, however, scoffed at the idea of a youth student movement vandalizing the MP’s office, saying that the state government and the central government were the only ones left to do anything against the Supreme Court’s verdict.
It is up to the Chief Minister of the state to intervene in this matter. It is up to the state government to ask and empower the Supreme Court in its judgment to intervene in this court decision.
K Sudhakaran wrote in his Facebook post that the court has directed the state government to approach the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) or the Union Ministry of Environment directly if it is affecting the lives of the people on a large scale.
Rahul Gandhi has written to the Chief Minister and the Prime Minister asking for immediate action on the issue. Despite knowing all this, if you attacked the MP’s office because you lost faith in the Chief Minister of Kerala, it reminds you that Pinarayi Vijayan is a Communist-Chief Minister, even though he is incompetent, Sudhakaran wrote on Facebook.
Kalpetta DySP, who was on duty at the spot, was suspended pending further investigation. The action was taken on the instructions of the Chief Minister. The state police chief has been directed to hand over the charge of Kalpetta DySP to another officer.