Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has once again made it abundantly clear that nothing could be more futile than asking for the resignation of higher education minister K T Jaleel. "Jaleel has done nothing wrong," Vijayan stressed yet again on Thursday, during his customary COVID briefing in Thiruvananthapuram.
While ruling out Jaleel's ouster, the Chief Minister also declared that strong action would be taken against two groups he felt were against Jaleel: the opposition and the media.
The Chief Minister did not say that opposition protests would be banned or put down by force. Instead, he said that stringent provisions of the Disaster Management Act and Kerala Epidemic Diseases Ordinance would be invoked if the agitators continue to violate COVID-19 protocols.
"You would have noticed. Most of them did not have masks and there was no social distancing," he said. "As per existing guidelines, not more than 50 people could come together. But the agitations now taking place in the state are being carried out with more people. They are violating all COVID-19 protocols," the Chief Minister said.
He then said that prosecution proceedings would be initiated against the protesters for causing violence, unlawful assembly and for the destruction of public property.
The Chief Minister said that 385 cases had already been registered in connection with the violence that marked the anti-Jaleel protests staged by political parties since September 11. As many as 1131 were arrested. Besides, he said that 1629 cases were registered against protesters for not wearing masks and for flouting social distancing norms.
The Chief Minister also attributed the spurt in COVID cases in Kerala to these agitations. "Violent agitations without using masks and ignoring social distancing norms will not be encouraged. It is a challenge thrown at the people of the state," he said.
The Chief Minister began his rant against fake news by offering a clarification of sorts. "A special police team formed to crack down on fake news seems to have caused misunderstanding in some quarters. It looks as if there is a misconception the move is against anyone in particular," Vijayan said.
The announcement was made on September 15, and the fact is, it came as a surprise even for ADGP Manoj Abraham, the officer picked to lead the team.
On Thursday, it was clear the Chief Minister wanted to subtly convey the message that the news reports put out by the mainstream media in Kerala were false.
But for this, instead of pinpointing specific instances of false reporting in the gold smuggling case, the Chief Minister dwelled at length on the global trend in fake news (how the media influenced elections in America) and also on perceived past mistakes like the ISRO spy case.
Though his target was the mainstream media, some of the examples of fake news the Chief Minister gave, COVID misinformation for instance, were spread through the social media.
Ever since the media began its aggressive and relentless reporting on the gold smuggling scandal, the LDF government had attempted to poke holes in the mainstream coverage. The Public Relations Department was asked to identify false reporting in major news outlets and expose them on its website.
However, after the PRD Fact Check section made some glaring bloopers, it has been asked to stop scanning for errors.
Instead, the Fact Check section has now been asked to avert their gaze towards social media. Any information related to the state government that can be considered false or fake on YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram will now be published with a ‘misleading’ or ‘fake’ stamp on the PRD website.
