Tweet
Massive CPM stir in Kerala against UPA, UDF policies
In a massive mobilisation of workers and sympathisers for the first time in several months, the CPI-M laid siege to the Kerala Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram and 13 district collectorates on Wednesday to protest against the ‘anti-people’ policies of the UPA Government at the Centre and the Congress-led UDF regime in the State.
The protest programme saw Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan warning the Kerala Police in his speech in Kannur that the people would deal with them if they continued to torture comrades in the lock-up. “The Chief Minister and Home Minister should understand that our party is still capable of organising such movements,” Kodiyeri said.
Tens of thousands of CPI-M workers came out on the streets within 24 hours of the Supreme Court’s refusal to stay a High Court order banning roadblocks in the name of protests. In Thiruvananthapuram, the police contributed to denial of freedom of movement of the people by closing main roads and by-lanes in their bid to avert untoward incidents.
Though the demands voiced at the agitation
were checking of price rise, ensuring food security, etc, the real intention behind the programme, according to observers, was to give a new energy to the comrades who had been trapped in a crisis of trust in the leadership after it suffered several reversals following allegation of involvement in some brutal political murders.
The siege started at 10.00 am at the State Secretariat but some Ministers, including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, reached their offices as early as 5.00 am to avoid being trapped in the agitation on a day of Cabinet meeting. As the Marxists blocked all entrances, employees could enter the premises only after the police managed to clear some way late in the morning.
CPI-M leaders claimed that over 1.5 million people had participated in the agitation at the Secretariat and the 13 district headquarters. Observers said this figure could be exaggerated but agreed that this was the biggest protest programme the Marxists had organised since they lost power in the 2011 Assembly election.
PB member Kodiyeri, who had years ago got into trouble with his reported statement that the party could make bombs in police stations, said in Kannur that the CPI-M would not allow the police to torture even a single comrade in the lock-up.
In a massive mobilisation of workers and sympathisers for the first time in several months, the CPI-M laid siege to the Kerala Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram and 13 district collectorates on Wednesday to protest against the ‘anti-people’ policies of the UPA Government at the Centre and the Congress-led UDF regime in the State.
The protest programme saw Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan warning the Kerala Police in his speech in Kannur that the people would deal with them if they continued to torture comrades in the lock-up. “The Chief Minister and Home Minister should understand that our party is still capable of organising such movements,” Kodiyeri said.
Tens of thousands of CPI-M workers came out on the streets within 24 hours of the Supreme Court’s refusal to stay a High Court order banning roadblocks in the name of protests. In Thiruvananthapuram, the police contributed to denial of freedom of movement of the people by closing main roads and by-lanes in their bid to avert untoward incidents.
Though the demands voiced at the agitation
were checking of price rise, ensuring food security, etc, the real intention behind the programme, according to observers, was to give a new energy to the comrades who had been trapped in a crisis of trust in the leadership after it suffered several reversals following allegation of involvement in some brutal political murders.
The siege started at 10.00 am at the State Secretariat but some Ministers, including Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, reached their offices as early as 5.00 am to avoid being trapped in the agitation on a day of Cabinet meeting. As the Marxists blocked all entrances, employees could enter the premises only after the police managed to clear some way late in the morning.
CPI-M leaders claimed that over 1.5 million people had participated in the agitation at the Secretariat and the 13 district headquarters. Observers said this figure could be exaggerated but agreed that this was the biggest protest programme the Marxists had organised since they lost power in the 2011 Assembly election.
PB member Kodiyeri, who had years ago got into trouble with his reported statement that the party could make bombs in police stations, said in Kannur that the CPI-M would not allow the police to torture even a single comrade in the lock-up.
