Congress held anti-government rallies across the State on Tuesday to protest the administration’s alleged subversion of the police to muzzle the press and ensnare Opposition leaders in false cases.
Congress called for Statewide protests after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government ordered back-to-back criminal investigations against Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan.
The Crime Branch is investigating Mr. Sudhakaran regarding the suspected financial malfeasance of alleged fake antiquities dealer Monson Mavunkal.
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are probing whether Mr. Satheesan violated the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) while soliciting private funding for building houses for the flood-displaced in his Assembly constituency in Paravoor.
Both leaders have denied the charges and portrayed themselves as victims of a political witch-hunt.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has denied targeting the leaders and said complaints from Congress workers had prompted the investigations.
The marches turned violent in some measure in Kollam, Kasaragod and Malappuram. Several persons sustained minor injuries when police swung batons and discharged water cannons to dissuade Congress workers from toppling barricades and storming law enforcers in riot gear.
District Congress Committee president, Kasaragod, P.K. Faisal, was injured in the police action. A KPCC communique accused the police of unleashing violence against peaceful protestors, including women activists. Heavy rain deterred Congress activists from marching to the District Police Chief’s office in Alappuzha.
Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan said the CPI(M)‘s gambit to drown Opposition voices using law enforcement would fail. He said Congress would continue to expose government corruption and hold CPI(M) leaders and their apparatchiks to account.
Scores of Congress workers laid siege to the State Police Headquarters, throwing traffic out of gear along arterial city roads for the better part of the day. Inaugurating the PHQ march, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Tariq Anwar said the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had taken a page out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political playbook by using police to stifle dissent and hobble opposition leaders.
Congress leader P.C. Vishnunath, MLA, inaugurated the protest march in Kollam. Kodikunnil Suresh, MP, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, MLA, and K. C. Joseph, MLA, inaugurated the protests in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Idukki districts. United Democratic Front (UDF) convenor M.M. Hassan inaugurated the march in Thrissur and Ramesh Chennithala in Thrissur.
