PALAKKAD: Tension gripped Thrithala town on Wednesday when rotten eggs and stones were thrown by CPM and DYFI activists at Congress MLA V T Balaram and attempts were made to manhandle him.
The UDF has called a 12-hour hartal in Thrithala Assembly constituency from 6 am to 6 pm on Thursday to protest against the incident. The rotten egg was thrown at Balram by one of the protesters. The protester is reported to have got atop a police vehicle and threw the rotten egg on Balram.
It was at 10.30 am that Balram came to inaugurate a private lab at Kanhirathani in Kappur panchayat. He was the chief guest at the function. The CPM and DYFI activists had assembled around 30 m away from the venue holding party flags. The former president of the Kappur panchayat and CPM leader Chinammu was also present there. When Balram reached the spot they shouted slogans and waved black flags. Once the CPM activist threw the rotten egg, it became a clash between the Congress and CPM workers. Stones were pelted from atop an adjacent building by the CPM workers.
The police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the clashing workers. Balram had reached the venue in his own car. The Innova car belonging to Balaram was damaged in the incident. The windscreens were broken. A number of policemen, including Pattambi SI Rajeev, were injured in the melee. Around 20 people, including Asianet News cameraman R J Aravind, were also injured in the incident.
It was the reference to the age difference of A K Gopalan and his second wife Susheela Gopalan on Balram’s Facebook post which triggered the present controversy. Balram had questioned the moral character of AKG as he had married a girl several years younger to him when his first wife was alive.
Senior CPM leader V S Achuthanandan in an article in the party organ criticised Balram for his comments on AKG. Balram had in return made a scathing attack on Achuthanandan again through the social media which was the reason for the present clashes.
The lab function was the first public event in his constituency after the AKG controversy broke out. Reacting to the attack by the CPM activists on social media, Balram stated that he would not be cowed down by such attacks. He thanked the UDF activists for protecting him. Balram later told reporters at Koonammoochi that he won’t apologise for his remarks against AKG. I will go ahead with my programmes, he added.
He said he was elected by the people. The CPM, with the support of the police, was trying to disrupt his public functions. Despite knowing that there was a possibility for violence no reinforcements were made by the police.
Meanwhile the LDF Thrithala mandalam committee and the CPM Thrithala area committee have decided to continue their agitation against Balram till he tenders an apology.
Kodiyeri flays Cong’s inaction
Kasargod: The Congress is resorting to provocation to trigger violence in the state, said CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. Addressing the public meeting marking the culmination of the three-day CPM district conference here on Wednesday, Kodiyeri said Congress MLA V T Balram’s defamatory remarks were targeted at AKG, who was a freedom fighter, a former Congress leader and helmsman of the Communist movement.