T’PURAM/THRISSUR/KOCHI: Terming the widespread violence during Friday’s hartal called by the Popular Front of India (PFI) as “unprecedented and premeditated”, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has vowed that everyone involved in the savage acts will be brought to book soon. However, the UDF and the BJP came down heavily on the government alleging police failure in preventing violence. Meanwhile, the police have so far registered 281 cases in connection with the violence and arrested 1,013 people.
Addressing the Kerala Police Officers’ Association meet in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, Pinarayi said there was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the state’s peaceful atmosphere. “The PFI activists carried out masked attacks. Some were arrested and the rest will be brought to book soon,” he said, rubbishing the opposition allegation. He claimed that the police were able to effectively counter violence. “Kerala is not a state that entertains communalism.
Both minority and majority communalism should be opposed,” he said. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan accused Pinarayi of encouraging communalism in the state. “The attack on public property, especially on KSRTC buses, is totally unacceptable. It is unfortunate that the state machinery couldn’t resist attacks,” he told reporters in Thrissur. Terming Pinarayi’s anti-communal stand as “fake”, Satheesan said it would be exposed soon. He said the CM was addressing a gathering in Thrissur on Friday when PFI workers attacked KSRTC buses across the state. He didn’t utter a word against the perpetrators, he said.
Senior BJP leader and party’s Kerala prabhari Prakash Javadekar too blamed the Left government for the hartal violence. The government is equally responsible as it failed to combat the violence, he alleged. “Both the CPM and PFI are hand in glove, which we saw during the LSG elections. How can the lone CPM MP A M Arif claim that the violence was an isolated incident? The CPM leadership has not bothered to dismiss his statement either,” Javadekar told reporters.
Pinarayi drummed while Kerala was bleeding: Min
Prakash Javadekar pointed out that though raids were held in many states, Kerala was the only place which saw widespread violence. The BJP leader did not spare former Congress president Rahul Gandhi either. What’s stopping Rahul from naming PFI, he asked. Javadekar further alleged that state congress president K Sudhakaran had sought the help of the PFI during the last Lok Sabha elections.
Senior BJP leader and Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said that like Nero fiddled when Rome burned, Pinarayi drummed while Kerala was bleeding. He was apparently referring to the CM beating drum at the inauguration of the cyber security conference in Kochi on Friday. “Will the Chief Minister take the same stand if opposition parties organise hartal,” he asked.
Talking to reporters in Kochi, Muraleedharan alleged that violence during the hartal indicates that the state government gave a free hand to terrorists. The police remained spectators while the miscreants attacked commuters and vehicles in front of their eyes, he said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is on a Yatra to unite the country was sleeping inside the container during the hartal. Why is the Congress leader reluctant to speak against terrorism, he asked. Meanwhile CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran rejected opposition allegations over police inaction during hartal. The police have done what they can. “It was flash hartal. The attackers came wearing helmet. How can the police prevent them?” he asked.