KOZHIKODE: Former Maoist leader Murali Kannampilly has raised suspicion over the killing of four suspected Maoists at Agali in Palakkad. Commenting on the issue, he stated a similar encounter killing in the past had turned out to be fake.
Talking to TNIE in the backdrop of Subaltern Festival which concluded here on Tuesday, Kannampilly said that early news revealed that at the site of encounter there were cooking pots and the suspected Maoists were encircled and ambushed while having food.
But later reports based on locals who accompanied the police revealed there were no signs of any temporary settlement or cooking pots in the area. “This shows that the state intended to kill them and not apprehend them,” he said.
“The fact that the incident allegedly happened at 12.30 pm and more or less at the same time the news flashed across all channels is the telling sign of a pre-planned attack,” he added.
Murali also criticised the chief minister for not using the machinery for apprehending instead of killing. “The chief minister could have very well instructed the police to apprehend them alive as much as possible and use the gun as the last resort,” he said. Lamenting that such incidents cannot happen without the green signal from the highest echelons of the government, he also pointed that the first fake encounter killing in Kerala of Varghese, the murders of REC student Rajan and Vijayan all happened during the communist regimes. “These parties have long ago abandoned the commitment to Marxism,” he added.
Walayar incident
Commenting on the mysterious deaths of two Dalit siblings in Walayar, Murali stated that society has become more sensitive and reactive to such issues. He said the response of the mother and father of the girls on the judicial verdict itself shows that people are gaining the courage to question judicial miscarriage of justice.
“People won’t stand suffering for too long. The will respond to injustice and it will manifest in various forms. The solidarity of people against quarrying, cutting across political differences, are signs of it as well,” he said. Citing the future of people’s movement, he said it won’t just be the marginalised who will rise.