THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After the pulling down of a huge cross in Munnar as part of a demolition drive stoked controversy on Thursday, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said the drive should continue. Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, he made it clear that action against encroachments at Pappathichola in Munnar would not stop.
"The cross erected at Munnar was not a cross of sacrifice. It was a cross of encroachments,” Kanam said. He added that putting up another cross again at the spot was nothing but an open challenge to the government. "The process of eviction is not a cakewalk for the government. Will power, not JCB, is required to continue with the eviction. The news report that eviction was stopped is misleading. It should be done overcoming all hurdles,” Kanam added. He also dismissed reports that the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had rapped revenue officials for the act.
On Saturday, the CPI mouthpiece Janayugam published an editorial against the stance taken by Pinarayi Vijayan on the encroachments by private parties on government land in Munnar. In the editorial, the news daily indirectly criticised the chief minister saying that people would remember the "protectors of encroachers".