The people’s action council against the GAIL pipeline project turned the heat on the police on Thursday when its activists from various parts of Malappuram and Kozhikode districts strengthened the agitation and blocked rural roads to express their anger at the project.
The Thiruvambady Assembly constituency observed a hartal in protest against police “high-handedness” against the agitators at Mukkom on Wednesday. Villages in the constituency remained tense and people gathered on the street to protest unmindful of a heavy police presence.
The hartal, called by the council and supported by various political parties, was total. The protesters observed Thursday as ‘black day’. Kodiyathur and Karassery grama panchayats remained totally shut in the dawn-to-dusk protest. Vehicular services were disrupted as the hartal supporters set afire worn-out tyres in the middle of the road.
Following a directive from the Ministry of Home, senior police officers led by Director General of Police (North Zone) Rajesh Dewan visited Mukkom. He reviewed the security arrangements. Police deployment was strengthened in the region following the visit of Mr. Dewan.
Meanwhile, the police have begun investigation into the role of a few suspected radical movements and leaders in the incident. Police sources claimed that Wednesday’s incident was a pre-planned one with the suspicious involvement of some of the political movements that have been under the scanner of the investigators for years. There were even suspected people from other districts who actually triggered the attack on the police, they claimed.
An insult
Meanwhile, the action committee leadership pooh-poohed the police contention saying that it was a usual police tactic to malign a mass agitation and cover up police brutality. Musthafa Kommeri, one of the action committee leaders, said the police allegation was highly insulting to a group of poor people who were on the verge of total displacement.
M.I. Shanavas, MP, ridiculed the police statement that the protesters were extremists who intruded into the district from Malappuram. “In that case, former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan too should be called an extremist as he too had protested against the police action.”
P.K. Kunhalikutty, MP, said the government should try to remove the anxieties and concerns of the people on the project. He said forceful suppression of people’s objection was not acceptable and the government should hold discussions with the protesters and find an amicable solution.
