KANNUR: Keezhattur witnessed dramatic scenes on Wednesday when Vayalkkilikal leaders threatened the Revenue and NHAI officers they would self-immolate if anyone from them tried to enter the paddy field to measure the land identified for acquisition. The CPM workers booed and jeered them, and allegedly set the agitators’ shed on fire after police took them away.With the CPM determined to bulldoze the Vayalkkilikal activists, who are equally determined to fight, the situation at Keezhattur, a CPM stronghold, remained a bit tense since Wednesday morning. Vayalkkilikal members, under Suresh Keezhattur’s leadership, had reached the area around 7.30 am, ready to resist any attempt to measure the land.
A team of policemen led by Taliparamba DySP K V Venugopal also reached the spot an hour later and seeing them, Suresh and fellow leader Nambradath Janaki poured diesel over their heads and threatened if anyone stepped into the farm, they would self-immolate. On seeing lighter in Suresh’s hand, the police stepped back from the paddy field and waited for the officers to reach there.
Around this time, measuring was taking place at the nearby Koovode with the help of the police and CPM workers. The officers reached Keezhattur in the afternoon. They reportedly were not keen on conducting the survey and measurement on Wednesday considering the tense situation, but allegedly had to go ahead due to pressure from the CPM.
With a large number of policemen deployed in the area both in uniform and mufti, and thanks to the CPM’s all-out support, the officers were able to start their work from the other side of the paddy field where no activists of Vayalkkilikal guarded the area. As the Vayalkkilikal moved towards the side where the measuring of the land was taking place, the police arrested them.As they were moved out of the place by the police, the shed of their agitation was set on fire alleged by the CPM workers.
‘CPM-cops’ bid to snuff out ‘Vayalkkilikal’
Kannur: The CPM and the police are trying to snuff out the agitation of ‘Vayalkkilikal’ at Keezhattur through ‘bloodletting’, said BJP national executive committee member P K Krishnadas. He was addressing party workers in front of the Taliparamba police station where the BJP staged a protest against the arrest of ‘Vayalkkilikal’ members by the Taliparamba police.
Had AKG been alive, this would not have happened: Neelakantan
Kannur:Had AKG been alive today, he would have protected the sheds which were put up by agitators of Vayalkkilikal and were set on fire by CPM workers, said C R Neelakantan, AAP state convenor and environmentalist. “Those who claim legacy of AKG renounced the leader and the history of his battles by setting fire to the sheds at Keezhattur,” he said.