KANNUR: Congress has always fought for the democratic rights of people and had reacted whenever such rights were violated, said state Congress president K Sudhakaran. He was speaking to reporters in Kannur on Wednesday, to clarify the controversial statement he made during his speech at MVR commemoration function. Sudhakaran said that the media was trying to misinterpret his speech.
At the commemoration function, Sudhakaran said that he had provided help to the RSS when its sakhas operating at Edakkad, Thottada and Kizhunna regions were attacked by CPM.
“Congress had always come out in support of those whose democratic rights were violated. We had provided protection and fought for them. What is wrong with it? he asked. “The reference I made in the speech was in connection with the support given to M V Raghavan, when he had to face similar attacks from the part of CPM. Now, media is highlighting a part of the speech to misinterpret what I had said,” he said. “When the party offices of CPM were attacked, we had given protection to their offices also,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Sudhakaran had said in his speech during the M V Raghavan commemoration function that he had deputed workers to give protection to the sakhas of RSS at Thottada, Kizhunna and Edakkad when CPM tried to attack the sakhas. “I was an KSU (organisational) worker then. We heard that sakhas were being attacked. So, we provided protection to the sakhas,” he said during his speech.
“This does not mean that I supported the ideals of RSS or sakhas. But, it was an act of protecting the democratic rights of a section,” said Sudhakaran. “I had neither cooperated with the RSS nor come out in support of the outfit. What I had tried to say was, democratic rights should not be violated. The rest is the interpretation of a section of the media,’ he said.
“Before jumping to conclusions, you should listen to the speech I made during the function. Then, you would get a clear idea about what I intended to say,” said Sudhakaran.
NO SURPRISE IN SUDHAKARAN’S STATEMENT: M V GOVINDAN
KANNUR: There is no surprise in the statement of state Congress president K Sudhakaran that he had provided protection to RSS shakhas in Kannur, said CPM state secretary M V Govindan. Speaking to reporters in Kannur, he said that both Congress and BJP are moving ahead with mutual support in Kannur.
“The two prime accused in the murder attempt case against E P Jayarajan are RSS workers. It is clear as daylight that people including Sudhakaran had used these RSS workers after hatching a conspiracy to attack E P Jayarajan. There is nothing special to be pointed out regarding this nexus,” said Govindan.