Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan on March 22 alleged that the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is trying to clamp down on the protests against the SilverLine project like how Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tried to quell the farmers’ protest.
“Mr. Vijayan will be forced to finally accept defeat like how Mr. Narendra Modi had to bow down before the protest by the farmers,” he said in response to the Chief Minister’s position that the Government would go ahead with the project at any cost.
Criticising the Chief Minister, Ministers and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders of making contrary statements about the SilverLine project, Mr. Satheesan said that the Managing Director of K-Rail had rejected the statement by Minister for Culture Saji Cherian that there would be no buffer zone on either side of the project. “Let them first study the details of the project. It is good that they have placed leaders like Mr. Cherian and E.P. Jayarajan in the forefront of the tirade against the people and the United Democratic Front, as they are the comedians in the durbar of Mr. Vijayan,” he said.
Rejecting the allegations that communal and separatist elements are involved in the agitation against the SilverLine project, Mr. Satheesan said that it has become a habit of the CPI(M) leaders sitting at the AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram to repeatedly come up with such false and baseless statements. “We do not require any support from caste-based or religious organisations in this agitation. The UDF has the support of the people. The Government should first listen to the several Left sympathisers, who had already opposed the project and urged the government to withdraw from it,” he said.
On Ramesh Chennithala’s comment that the CPI(M) is eyeing the kickbacks from the consultancy contract for the project, Mr. Satheesan said that the main attraction for them is the immense scope for corruption offered by the rail project. “The detailed project report itself is an eyewash. The Managing Director of K-Rail, who claimed that K-Rail had the permission to acquire land, should submit the documents to support it,” he said.
The Opposition leader welcomed the Chief Minister’s decision to interact with the public on the SilverLine project while recalling that he was adamant initially and restricted the process among select ‘prominent citizens’ only.
