Kerala - Kannur   

Centre, State serving interests of rich: Veliyam

Staff Reporter

Chandy Government resorting to police heavy-handedness to suppress agitations

KANNUR: Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary Veliyam Barghavan has said that the Congress-led Governments in the State and the Centre are serving the interests of the rich.

Delivering the N.E. Balaram and P.P. Mukundan memorial lecture and inaugurating the Balaram Smaraka Mandiram here on Sunday, Mr. Barghavan said that while the Oommen Chandy Government was resorting to police heavy-handedness to suppress student and youth agitations against the pro-rich education policy, the Manmohan Singh Government at the Centre had entered into a strategic relationship with the United States which was continuing to enforce its hegemony over the world.

Law and order

Mr. Chandy was least concerned about the disruption of law and order in the State as mafia groups having `links' with United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders continued their activities.

The State was heading towards a great disaster, he said adding that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) was preparing for an agitation to stop this.

The CPI leader said that the Left parties would fight against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government if the latter deviated from the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

It was for the UPA Government to decide whether it wanted the Left support or not, Mr. Bharghavan said.

The Left parties had come out to support the Congress-led Government at the Centre just to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party out of power, he said.

Mr. Barghavan said that the race for power seen among bourgeois parties were earning bad name for political party workers and leaders.

These parties could not understand the sacrifices of Communist leaders, Mr. Bharghavan said.

CPI assistant secretary Panniyan Ravindran presided over the function.

Party assistant secretary K.E. Ismail distributed P.P. Mukundan endowments. Portraits of N.E. Balaram and P.P. Mukundan were unveiled by party State secretariat member C.N. Chandran and State executive member Pallipram Balan respectively. CPI district secretary C.P. Murali was also present.

Chandy helping police

Special Correspondent writes from Thiruvananthapuram: Mr. Bhargavan said that Mr. Chandy's statement that students and youth who had participated in the recent agitation over the self-financing college issue were not injured would make the police more aggressive in the days to come.

In a statement here today, Mr. Bhargavan said the Chief Minister's statement was `cruel and despicable' and pointed out that, contrary to what Mr. Chandy had said, hundreds of AISF, AIYF, SFI, DYFI, RYF and National Congress workers were injured in the police lathicharge in connection with the agitation.

Rajya Sabha member N.K. Premachandran and MLAs, A.A. Aziz and Kovoor Kunjumon were also injured in the police action.

The visual media had given graphic expression of the police beating up even girls, he said and added that the Chief Minister was inviting more trouble by inciting the police personnel to more violence.

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Centre, State serving interests of rich: Veliyam

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