In his first response to the violent incidents at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has thrown to the winds any restraint the LDF government seemed to have adopted in the last two days.
"Clearly, there were ulterior motives behind the attack. It was done with the intention of disrupting peace and coexistence," the Chief Minister said while speaking at the passing out parade of women police constables at Thrissur on Thursday. "If the vandals were not able to achieve their ends, it was only because of the exemplary and courageous restraint shown by the police. People who expected the police to come down heavily on the agitators could not have been more wrong," he said.
Even though he did not take any names, it was clear his chief target was the Latin Church. Vijayan said the attack was pre-planned. "They declared beforehand that they would attack the police station and its officers. These were done with specific motives," he alleged.
The Chief Minister said stringent action would be taken against those who had attacked the police.
The Chief Minister's accusation is proof that the LDF government has no intention to hold back its ammunition.
Already, the LDF is amplifying the oft-repeated charge that outside forces were behind the anti-port agitation. On November 30, LDF convener E P Jayarajan said the attempts to scuttle the Vizhinjam project would only benefit foreign forces. He wanted a probe instituted against the people behind what he called a "multinational conspiracy" to torpedo the Vizhinjam project.
Other CPM leaders like K Mohanan, the party's Kozhikode district secretary, too, spoke of a foreign plot to ground the Vizhinjam project.
If further proof of the government's combative intent was required, the police FIR against the anti-port Action Council convenor Fr Theodocious D'Cruz, who called fisheries minister V Abdurahiman the "biggest anti-national of them all", would suffice.
The FIR states that the priest's remarks against the minister was a clear attempt to divide people on communal lines. It said Fr Theodocious's comments were an incitement to riots.
The priest's outburst Abdurahiman's observation that any attempt to block a development project was an anti-national activity. What made the police slap such grave charges against Fr Theodocious was his remark that there was a terrorist in Abdurahiman's name itself.