A day after he was prevented from attending an event in Bhopal, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday slammed the Madhya Pradesh government for the fiasco.
Interacting with media persons here, Mr. Vijayan said the incident pointed to the difference of cultures between the two States and alleged that the police restrained from preventing the protesters as they were activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Though Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan spoke to him and the Director General of Police expressed his apology, Mr. Vijayan said there was no point in these gestures as the damage had already been done.
‘‘If there were protesters, the police should have dealt with them instead of stopping me,’’ he said, adding that a similar incident would not have happened in Kerala.
To back the argument, he pointed to the visit of senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to Kannur amid reports of widespread violence in the region. ‘‘Even though a tense situation prevailed in those villages, no untoward incidents were reported and Mr. Singh was able to hold his visit peacefully,’’ Mr. Vijayan said.
The other day, the Madhya Pradesh police had denied police permission to the Mr. Vijayan for attending a felicitation organised by various Malayali organisations in Bhopal as the RSS was purportedly holding a demonstration.
