KANNUR: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the DYFI workers were only trying to save the lives of the protesting Youth Congress workers at Pazhayangadi on Monday and it was an “exemplary act”. Speaking to reporters in Kannur before the start of the Nava Kerala Sadas on Tuesday, the chief minister said that the Youth Congress workers were about to jump in front of the moving vehicles.
“The ministers including myself were watching the incident. We are not against any type of democratic protests. But, what we had seen on Monday was not protest but aggression. Such thoughtless activities are not befitting for a democratic set-up,” he said.
When reporters asked him whether hitting with flower pots and helmets was part of life-saving activities, CM switched off the mike and walked away concluding the press conference.
Earlier, he said that the Opposition has panicked and has been trying to bring disrepute to the Nava Kerala Sadas through various means. “They are desperate after seeing the success of the initiative. People have taken over the programme from us. Attempts at disrupting the normal proceedings at the Nava Kerala Sadas would be viewed as an act of protest against the people,” said Pinarayi.
“Such protests will be viewed cautiously. We hope the Opposition will refrain from its attempts to topple Nava Kerala Sadas,” he said. “Statements are being made by certain people that they would take on the Nava Kerala Sadas in the streets. They have been trying to face us in the streets for a long time. Who are they trying to humiliate? It is the people who have made this a huge success. Now, they are humiliating the people by describing the programme as an obscene drama,” Pinarayi said.
“What they are trying to achieve is to create doubts among the neutral people by creating trouble and tension in the programmes,” he said.