Kannur: The police on Tuesday registered a case against 14 CPM and DYFI workers for assaulting Youth Congress workers who allegedly waved black flags and jumped in front of the Nava Kerala Sadas bus used by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his ministers.
The case was registered by the Pazhayangadi police. According to the FIR the Left activists used helmets, flower pots and iron rods to hit the Youth Congress workers.
Six KSU and Youth Congress workers were arrested on Monday waving black flags at the cavalcade of Kerala CM. Vijayan and his cabinet were travelling through Pazhayangadi area of this north Kerala district as part of the Nava Kerala Sadas, an outreach programme of the state government, when the Youth Congress members demonstrated.
After the incident, Vijayan, while addressing a massive gathering at Taliparamba here, claimed that those who jumped in front of his cavalcade had received specific instructions and had an agenda. He said the Congress will not be able to "belittle the success" of the event by waving a black flag.
The CPI(M) state secretariat also echoed similar views in a statement and said the Congress party was trying to disrupt the Nava Kerala Sadas by creating trouble.
The injured Youth Congress workers have been admitted to a private hospital in Taliparamba. The Youth Congress also alleged that a few of their workers were taken into preventive custody by the police earlier in the day. Condemning the incident, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly V D Satheesan said this reflects poorly on the state of affairs in Kerala, as it appears that a group of people linked to the CPI(M) engaged in a physical attack against workers of the Youth Congress and the Kerala Students Union (KSU), including women activists. It's a humiliating incident for Kerala, Satheesan said in a statement. He proclaimed that black flags would be shown to the chief minister all the way to Thiruvananthapuram if Youth Congress workers were physically targeted.
(With PTI inputs.)
