Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's stubborn attitude has bestowed upon the three UDF MLAs, who were on an indefinite 'satyagraha' in front of the entrance to the Assembly hall, a most embarrassing distinction. They have become the first MLAs in the history of the state Assembly to sit in protest outside the House for 11 days.
Their demands were two. Withdraw with immediate effect the curfew imposed in Sabariamala, and improve pilgrim facilities at the shrine. The government, it looked, was in a mood to taunt. It extended the curfew. When the opposition made more sound, it further extended the prohibitory orders. The opposition had no choice but to keep disrupting the Question Hour; the hour had to be suspended in nine of the 13 days of the session.
Rubbing salt on the wound
On December 6, Industries Minister E P Jayarajan offered to hold talks with the opposition. Jayarajan was standing in for the chief minister who did not attend the Assembly on the day. The Speaker, too, had agreed. The compromise talks, however, did not take place. As sources revealed later, the chief minister had expressed disapproval of the move.
Later, to somehow save the UDF without much of an injury, it was decided to end the Assembly session on December 10. The Speaker even mooted the idea to the Business Advisory Committee, which has both the chief minister and the opposition leader as members. This was also shot down. Result: the UDF had to suffer the ignominy of waiting till the end of the session on Thursday to usher their 'satyagrahi' MLAs out of the Assembly. Aborting a session has always been the practice when both the ruling and the opposition benches are unwilling for a compromise.
It looks like the UDF had anticipated the chief minister's approach. Instead of an indefinite hunger strike, the opposition leader declared a mere 'satyagraha'. Sources in the UDF now feel that had it been a hunger 'satyagraha' perhaps Pinarayi Vijayan would have been forced to call the UDF leaders for talks.
Plight of the young turks
The chief minister's track record does not point to such a possibility. The last time MLAs sat outside the House for nearly the same duration was also during Pinarayi Vijayan's tenure. On September 9, 2016, young UDF MLAs Hibi Eden, Shafi Parambil and Anoop Jacob had begun an indefinite hunger strike inside the Assembly in protest against the fee increase in self-financing medical colleges. The chief minister allowed the fast to continue until the tenth day when the three were so weak that they had to be shifted to the hospital.
Before this LDF tenure, the most an opposition member had to fast inside the Assembly was for four days. The fast was by the CPM member K Radhakrishnan, and it was against the Muthanga firing in 2003. He began fast on February 25, six days after the firing. The Assembly was adjourned three days later on February 28, which automatically ended Radhakrishnan's fast inside the Assembly. During all other times when members began an agitation inside the Assembly, documents show that the Speaker, in consulatation with the chief minister of the time, had called off the session within two days.
