Thiruvananthapuram: LDF constituent Communist Party of India (CPI) strongly reacted against the CPM for the brutal assault on its MLA and activists by the local police during a cabinet meeting held here on Wednesday,.
The CPI workers were at the receiving end of the Kerala police assault when they held a protest march on Tuesday, seeking action against a CI over campus row. Muvattupuzha MLA Eldho Abraham fractured his arm in the melee. The CPI is the second biggest ally of the ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala after CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist).
“It is hard to believe that the local police cannot to recognise their own MLA," said revenue minister E. Chandrasekharan, reminding the assembly that it was not the central or armed forces that carried out the baton charge.
Though other CPM ministers took a compassionate stand, the remark by SC/ST welfare and law minister A K Balan that "one needs to be careful while going on strike when in power" vitiated the atmosphere.
Chandrasekharan began by welcoming the chief minister's move to ask the collector to look into the baton charge. “Communists know the third-degree torture methods of the police. But those happen when you are in the opposition," an emotional Chandrasekharan said.
Following this, CPM ministers too came out in support of Chandrasekharan and criticised the police action. The police were duty bound to protect the MLA and CPI district secretary, and the action against them is not right, they said.
But Balan took a different stand, saying that the party should have been careful since they are part of the ruling front, and the police may not consider if the party is part of the ruling front or opposition before taking action if a protest turns violent.
This infuriated CPI ministers V S Sunil Kumar and P Thilothaman. "Does the police force think they can assault anybody," they asked. When the scene became unruly, the chief minister intervened, and said that further action will be taken once the report from the collector is available.
'Never expected a hit from behind'
"The police system is not working in a good way. The police hit me while I had turned around to dissuade the workers. I never expected that," said Eldho Abraham, CPI MLA from Muvattupuzha, who was manhandled by the police during the protest on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, CPM Secretary Kanam Rajendran has informed that Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has assured to the needful in the MLA assault case.
