Scenes of protest and resistance against K-rail (Silverline) played out across Kerala for the second straight day on Tuesday.
The latest surge of protests seemed to suggest that the “bitterness” against the acquisition of private land and homes for the estimated ₹64,000 crore semi-high-speed railway project would peak in the coming days.
For one, the demonstrations have pitted the CPI(M) against the Congress and the BJP on the frontlines of the rapidly unfolding socio-political battle over the indispensability of the project to Kerala's development.
Nattassery, Madapally and Kuzhiyilapadi in Kottayam, Chottanikara in Ernakulam, Thirunavaya in Malappuram and Chengannur in Alappuzha remained the hotspots of the anti-SilverLine protests for the second consecutive day.
In Kottayam, Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, MLA, led the resistance against the government’s bid to set the alignment of SilverLine by placing concrete markers on private land amid strident local opposition.
In Changanassery, Left Democratic Front convener A. Vijayaraghavan chaired a meeting to persuade local people to support K-Rail.
In Kozhikode, revenue surveyors halted the demarcation of SilverLine, fearing public protests.
In Chengannur, BJP State secretary S. Suresh led a protest march to the local office of Culture Minister A. Saji Cherian. He slammed Mr. Cherian for portraying anti-SilverLine protesters as terrorists.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran echoed a similar sentiment in a Facebook post.
“Saji Cherian had wailed in front of television cameras when floodwaters washed away his car. But he lacks sympathy for ordinary folk struggling to save their homes and ancestral land from acquisition. Mr. Cherian has termed anti-SilverLine protester terrorists and threatened to throw the book at them,” he said.
The IFFK venue at Tagore theatre in the capital also emerged as a high-profile platform for anti-SilverLine protests. Congress leaders Shafi Parambil, MLA, and K.S. Sabarinadhan demonstrated against SilverLine at the festival venue. Opposition supporters held “Stop K-Rail” placards.
The political duel over the project continued to rage. Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had taken a leaf out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s playbook to quell anti-SilverLine protests by unleashing the police on women and children.
United Democratic Front (UDF) convener M. M. Hassan said Opposition leaders were prepared to court arrest if the government forged ahead with the project.
The government appeared to double down and escalate its confrontation with the Opposition. The police booked UDF leader and former Minister Anoop Jacob for public property destruction in connection with the uprooting of SilverLine markers at Chottanikara.
CPI(M) State secretary raised the bogey of a second “Liberation Struggle” by communal and casteist forces to unseat an elected Left government. He said Opposition parties used women and children as human shields to provoke the police and prompt a firing.
CPI(M) leader A. K. Balan accused the Congress of attempting to take Kerala back to the bullock cart age.
E. P. Jayarajan of the CPI(M) accused Mr. Satheesan of spreading misinformation. The CPI(M) organised several street meetings to campaign for K-Rail.
