Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan Defends DYFI Workers, Says Life-Saving Actions Deserve Praise

Vijayan, at a press briefing here, also questioned how praising such life-saving acts can be construed as encouragement for carrying out assaults.

The chief minister was responding to reporters' reference to the remarks, made a day ago, by Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan that admiring the DYFI workers' actions and asking them to continue the same in the future amounts to "instigating a riot".

The LoP had also called Vijayan a criminal, an accusation to which the chief minister responded that they (opposition) are always carrying out personal attacks and abuses in an attempt to suppress the other side by force.

Vijayan reiterated what he said on Tuesday that he was sitting in front of the bus and saw the workers of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) -- the youth wing of CPI(M) pushing the Youth Congress activists out of harm's way in Kannur district of the state on Monday.

At the same time, he also said that he did not see what happened subsequently when reporters pointed out that police have lodged an attempted murder case against the CPI(M) workers in connection with that incident.

Vijayan also alleged that the Youth Congress activists were probably carrying out such demonstrations to divert attention from the recent allegations against some of its members regarding forging of election ID cards.

"No other reason is visible for such demonstrations," he claimed.

Police have registered a case and launched a probe in connection with the alleged use of fake voter ID cards during the recent organisational polls in the Youth Congress.

The chief minister also criticised the LoP for allegedly intimidating the UDF-ruled Paravur Municipal Corporation of Ernakulam district for unanimously deciding to allocate funds to the Nava Kerala Sadas -- a 35-days long outreach programme of the state government.

"Yesterday, the Leader of the Opposition publicly said that those who violate the UDF decision (to boycott the Nava Kerala Sadas) will not continue in their positions.

"Which means that the representatives of the people are not free to take fair decisions on matters related to the general public. This threat has put the municipality under severe psychological pressure. By what measure of democracy is this to be viewed?" Vijayan said.

He alleged that when people were standing together irrespective of their party affiliations for the good of the state, the UDF was threatening them and forcing them to stay away.

"Therefore, it is interesting to see them talk about democracy. Such actions show the level of intolerance and restlessness among the opposition and LoP," Vijayan alleged.

He contended that the opposition has become paranoid after seeing the huge turnout at the Nava Kerala Sadas held in 16 assembly constituencies in the last five days.

It showed that people have not heeded the opposition call for boycotting the programme, he said.

"We can only imagine the state of mind of those who tried and failed miserably to destroy the programme which is being conducted for the good of the state and is beyond party politics," the chief minister said.

The state of mind of the opposition leader is visible from the nature of his responses, he said.

"Look at the kind of language he (Satheesan) is using and the allegations he is making," Vijayan said.

The chief minister also said that while the outreach programme is progressing, the state machinery has not come to a standstill.

"The administration is proceeding smoothly, the secretariat is functioning as usual and a cabinet meeting was held right in the middle of the journey," he said.

Satheesan had on Wednesday flayed the chief minister over his remarks regarding the assault on the Youth Congress activists who waved black flags at him and had called him a "criminal".

He also said that it showed the chief minister's "cruel" mindset.

Police have registered a case against the CPI(M) activists under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by the use of dangerous weapons or means), 307 (attempt to murder) among others in the connection with the alleged assault on the Youth Congress workers.

The LoP also termed the ongoing Nava Kerala Sadas as an "obscene" play and a political campaign being carried out at the taxpayer's expense.

Both the Congress-led UDF and the BJP have criticised the state government and the CPI(M) for conducting the programme when Kerala was in a financial crisis.