MALAPPURAM: The state government on Sunday drew flak for the act of CPM and DYFI members here for forcing Ayesha Renna, who became the face of the Jamia Millia Islamia University student protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), to apologise for making an “unpleasant” comment against Pinarayi Vijayan-led government.
The controversial incident occurred on Saturday when Renna attended a campaign against CAA and NRC organised by the Kondotty Pauravali. While addressing protesters, Renna urged the state government to release the students and others recently arrested for participating in the protests against CAA and NRC in the state.
The statement angered the Left party workers and they immediately demanded an apology from Renna for speaking against the state government. They disrupted her speech, asking her to share her personal opinions only at her home. The video of the scene went viral on social media and many criticised the state government for the party workers’ anti-women attitude.
Reacting to the experience, Renna told TNIE that it is the inherent nature of some CPM members to suppress the voices of women. “They would conduct programmes to empower women and, at the same time, take steps to suppress the voices of women. All of them know about it. However, as far as I understand, there are two opinions among the CPM members on my statement. Some members did not want me to apologise,” Renna said.
“As a person who led the protest at Kodotty, it was my moral duty to demand the government to free the protesters from the jail. I didn’t make any comment to degrade the party or personally attack Pinarayi Vijayan,” she said.
She further said she would continue to participate in the protests against CAA in the state. “The events that occurred on Saturday must not deflect our attention from the real cause of the protests. We had faced many such threats from the beginning of the campaign in Delhi. We will not take a single step backward in the fight against CAA and BJP government,” she said.
She urged women in Kerala to join the protests against CAA. “I want more women to join the protests and come out on the streets. I will try to motivate as many people as possible including women to join the fight against CAA. I will return to Delhi on January 3 and participate in protests in Delhi being organised by the Jamia coordination committee. We will fight until the Central government revokes the Act,” she said.
DYFI stand
Meanwhile, DYFI members in Kodotty said Renna shouldn’t have criticised the state government at a common platform of protest. “The protest was a joint programme of the political parties in the area. We had worked day and night to organise such a programme,” said Muhammad Sajid, a DYFI member in the area. “But Renna criticised Pinarayi who has taken a stand against the Central government. Pinarayi had said he would not let the Centre implement CAA and NRC in the state. The state government arrested some protesters who unleashed violence after considering the intelligence report. The action against such protesters should not have been compared with the cruel actions of the Central government. DYFI will organise a protest against Renna for making false allegations,” said Sajid.