THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after the CPI state council brought out a resolution condemning Maoist killings under the guise of encounter, party state secretary Kanam Rajendran unleashed major criticisms against ThunderBolt.
Terming the so-called encounter a one-sided attack by the police, Kanam reminded the state government that gunning down people in the name of Maoist encounter is not part of the Left front’s common minimum programme. The government should think whether ThunderBolt operations should be allowed in Kerala which does not face any threat from Maoist operations.
“No policeman was injured in the encounter, which shows that it was a one-sided attack. Those who saw the body of the killed Maoist have raised suspicion. It should be suspected whether there’s a deliberate move to portray the only Left government in the country in a bad light. The government should decide that there’s no need for ThunderBolt here,” said Kanam.
The CPI state chief alleged that it’s for the police to keep an impression of Maoist threat to get Central funding. “We don’t agree with the Maoist politics. At the same time, we cannot accept the government taking a stance of shooting them down,” said Kanam while briefing the party state council decisions.
The CPI urged the government to hold a magisterial probe into the encounter and take follow-up actions. To questions on the government cold-shouldering the issue despite the CPI raising it several times, Kanam said it’s the party’s official stance and will continue to raise the matter.
Kanam said the magisterial probe report of previous encounters have not reached the court even after many years. Kanam denied reports of differences of opinion within the party. Reports about disputes in party committee are wrong, he said.