Not to forcibly enter CPM office a prudent move by police: CM Satheesan

After giving the impression that he was evading questions on the Enforcement Directorate raids on Pinarayi Vijayan's houses on May 27, Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Friday made four salient points related to the raids.

One, the ED did not inform the state government not just of the raids but also of the time the interrogating officials would be leaving the raid premises. Two, the raids were carried out with the High Court's permission and, therefore, the state government had no right to even criticise the action, let alone dictate the terms of the action. 

Three, the mob violence against the returning ED officials is a criminal offence. Four, the Kerala Police acted prudently in not trying to force its way into the CPM area committee office in which the vandals were hidden.

However, the CM prefaced his response to the ED raids with a sarcastic take on media aggression. "Let me tell you one thing right at the outset. Please leave the timing of when I should respond to an issue to me," he said with folded hands. 

He mocked the media for being everywhere, pointing the mike at him while on a morning walk or when coming out after a bath, while reaching and leaving airports, and getting into cars. "And when I was getting into my car the other day, a camera punched my face," he said. "Do news channels have so many units at your disposal," he wondered.

Satheesan said he could respond to an issue only after studying and understanding it. "Like you have the right to ask, please grant me the right to decide when to reply to your questions," the CM said.

Returning to the raids, the CM said that the case was already registered by a central agency and that actions were initiated as part of the investigation. "What is the state government's role in this? We were not even informed. We were not told even when they left the premises," he said.

Moreover, he said that the raids were carried out through a legal process. "It was the High Court that granted permission to continue the investigation. Can the state government direct the ED officials to conduct the raids in a particular manner? Can we even criticise the process? We are not the competent authority to do that," the CM said, and added: "We can intervene only when there is a law and order issue," he said  

The CM was all praise for home minister Ramesh Chennithala. "I am complimenting the home minister for his timely intervention. It was he who sent the police to control the situation after knowing about the raids from television channels. The police prevented the situation from escalating further," the CM said.

However, Satheesan was sharply critical of the attack on the vehicles ferrying the ED officials out of Pinarayi Vijayan's rented house in Thiruvananthapuram. He said the attackers could even be described as "criminals". "This attempt to destroy the car and attack the passengers, which included women, is a grave offence. It is a violation of law and order," he said.

The CM did not spare the ED either. "This is an allegation (that Veena Vijayan had pocketed monthly payments from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited without offering any IT services) we have also raised. But we have serious reservations about the ED's functioning. This was a case registered four years ago and the ED has not done anything till the LDF government left office," Satheesan said.

The CM also found it amusing that it was Rahul Gandhi that opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan accused when he came out of the house after the raid. "Was it Rahul Gandhi who ordered the raids," he said. "He did not accuse the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, or the BJP government. He accused no one except Rahul Gandhi," the CM said.

Satheesan then compared the CPM response to the latest raid to how the Congress reacted to the lengthy questioning of Rahul Gandhi by the ED in 2022. "When the ED questioned Rahul Gandhi did he sent Congress workers to destroy the cars of ED officials? He sat before the central agencies for 55 hours, in separate sittings. He cooperated with them," the CM said.

He then made a statement that could potentially polarise, or at least trouble, CPM workers. "If it is felt that this case registered against a member of Pinarayi Vijayan's family is politically motivated, then the CPM should fight it politically," Satheesan said. 

Satheesan's clever rhetoric can push to the fore embarrassing paradoxes within the party, and revive questions about differential treatment. In 2020, when the then CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's son was caught in a drug peddling case, the party had disowned him and said that it was a battle Kodiyeri's son had to fight individually. Bineesh Kodiyeri was acquitted in 2023.

However, when the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board found that Veena Vijayan had received a monthly payment from CMRL without providing any services, the CPM was quick to shield her. The CPM State Secretariat even went to the extent of issuing a press release saying that the CMRL-Exalogic deal was a bonafide deal entered into with proper documentation, conveniently forgetting that the Chief Minister's daughter had struck a deal with a company in which the government-owned KSIDC had a 13.5 per cent stake.

Satheesan also laughed away the CPM charge that the raids were conducted a day after he had visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "This is the second joke that I am hearing after the UDF government came to power. The first was when the former LDF ministers joined the protests in Malayidom Thuruth the day after we came to power. Before that, there were 14 attempts to recover the very same land and the former LDF government had done nothing," Satheesan said.

He said his meeting with the PM was a courtesy call which all new chief ministers make. He then went into farce mode. "This was the first time I was seeing Narendra Modi face to face, and the first thing I asked him was to conduct a raid in Pinarayi Vijayan's house the very next day. Right then, Modi picked up his phone, saying this was the first time Satheesan was asking me something, and ordered the raids. I told him it was not enough to raid one place, it has to be done in 12. Modi immediately told his officers to raid 12 places," Satheesan said, and added: "When even former ministers utter such nonsense, should I laugh or cry?"

The CM also termed as "prudent" the police decision to desist from entering the CPM area committee office. After the mob violence on ED officials, the attackers had taken refuge in the CPM office nearby. Though the force rounded the office, it did not make a forced entry. 

"In certain cases, the police should act prudently. It was such a prudent response that we saw from the police on that day," the CM said. "If Kerala Police wants, it can enter any party office in Kerala, beat up those who came in their way and take into custody anyone they want to. Is that how the police should behave? I believe what the police did helped to ease a tense situation," the CM said.