KASARGOD: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is facing flak after the murder of two Youth Congress workers, trained his guns on the media on Friday, even as he unequivocally condemned the ‘heinous crime.’Big media houses have been ‘paid’ by the BJP to attack and destroy the Left movement in Kerala, he said, after laying the foundation stone for the CPM’s district committee office here.”
Now it is election time and the BJP is influencing the media with money,” he said. They are being paid not just under the cover of advertisement, he said.“Importantly, even big media houses, which we assume cannot be bought, respond favourably to such overtures,” he said. The target to the media houses is clear: The BJP’s rivals should be stamped down, destroyed,” Vijayan said.
If such financially-sound media houses can be influenced, no need to speak about others, the Chief Minister said. The Left movement and its workers were always the punching bag of the media, he said.
“Earlier, it was the Congress which wanted to destroy the Left and now it is the RSS-BJP,” he said.
When a Left worker was murdered, the outrage in the media was missing, he said. “It need not be seen as a big issue. That is the general stance. Now, the stance is adopted by a section of media, which should be the vanguards of democracy,” he said.
Political parties opposing the Left movement have their own media, but they do not have the reach or credibility, he said. So they are tapping media and journalists who appear independent, he said. The present campaign against the Left is not new, he said. “There was a time in Kerala when the assaulters of Left workers were portrayed as angels, and victims as assaulters,” he said.
But the media should realise the Left movement cannot be destroyed, Vijayan said. “The Left movement does not exist on the tip of their tongue or pen. This movement lives in the hearts of people. The movement grew on the backing of the people. We see the people as our masters. We don’t seek or desire their appeasement,” he said.
‘Mindless act of violence’
The biased media was presented with an opportunity to attack the Left government by the thoughtless acts of some people, the Chief Minister said. That is the other side of the story. The LDF Government and the CPM were on the right track giving good governance, but the heinous murders of the two Congress workers defamed them, he said. To be sure, Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarath Lal were murdered on the night of February 17, and the police have arrested seven persons, including a CPM member.
The murders cannot be justified in any way and the party has no obligation to take up anything that is wrong, Vijayan said. The Chief Minister said there would be strong action against the culprits. The government has given clear instructions to the police, he said. But after the murders, the Congress behaved as if it got the licence to unleash violence, he said. “And we heard no one condemning it. The violence was encouraged by them. But if you promote or protect violence, there will be strong action against the perpetrators,” he said. Across the country, Kerala has topped in law and order situation, and the government intends to maintain it, he said.
YC waves black flag at Pinarayi Vijayan
Kasargod: The Youth Congress workers waved black flags at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in protest against the murder of its workers. The protest was staged at Poinachi, when the Chief Minister was on his way to Kanhangad from Kasargod, on Friday. Youth Congress district vice-president Sreejith Madakkal, KSU district president Noel Tomin Joseph, Youth Congress district general secretary Unnikrishnan Poinachi, former KSU district president B P Pradeep Kumar, and Youth Congress Nileshwaram mandalam president Sivaprasad Aravath were arrested and released.
YC waves black flag at Pinarayi Vijayan
Kasargod:The Youth Congress workers waved black flags at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in protest against the murder of its workers. The protest was staged at Poinachi, when the Chief Minister was on his way to Kanhangad from Kasargod, on Friday. Youth Congress district vice-president Sreejith Madakkal, KSU district president Noel Tomin Joseph, Youth Congress district general secretary Unnikrishnan Poinachi, former KSU district president B P Pradeep Kumar, and Youth Congress Nileshwaram mandalam president Sivaprasad Aravath were arrested and released.