Stung by the latest arrest in the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case, that of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) senior leader and Kozhikode district secretariat member P. Mohanan, the party’s State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday unleashed a strong diatribe against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, accusing them of using the State police to annihilate the CPI(M).
Inaugurating a public meeting organised by the Thiruvananthapuram district unit of the party at the Putharikkandom Maidan here against “lies that killed the truth,” Mr. Vijayan said the arrest of Mr. Mohanan was part of the ongoing witch-hunt aimed at destroying the CPI (M).
It was natural for well-wishers and party workers to come together when someone of the stature of Mr. Mohanan was arrested “for no reason at all, that too in a dramatic manner as if he was a terrorist.” Mr. Vijayan alleged the police had “planted” Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) workers outside the Vadakara court where Mr. Mohanan was produced on Friday.
RMP workers flayed
“There was a natural flare-up of emotions and arguments ensued, with RMP activists taking the law and order situation into their hands. However, the police sought to protect them and to cane the CPI(M) supporters,” he said, referring to the violence outside the court on Friday.
Helmets, lathis, and bullet-proof vests would not scare the people, he said, stating that Mr. Chandy and Mr. Radhakrishnan should remember that the people were the biggest strength and not the police. Such attempts at decimating the CPI (M) would not bear fruit. He termed Mr. Chandy “the most crooked mind” in the State’s politics and Mr. Radhakrishnan as someone who played to Mr. Chandy’s tunes.
Mr. Vijayan hit out against Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran as well, accusing him of interfering in the Fazal murder probe with the intention of weakening the CPI (M) in its stronghold of Vadakara.
In Chandrasekharan’s murder too, Mr. Ramachandran was the first to say that CPI (M) was behind the murder, he said.
He asserted throughout the speech that the CPI (M) did not have the tradition of killing its enemies or those who left the party.
Debate
Mr. Vijayan came down heavily on the debate over whether it was ideological differences that led to Chandrasekharan leaving the party and whether the party leadership had tried to keep the party united.
Mr. Chandrasekharan’s exit had nothing to do with ideology.
The CPI (M) did not have to kill Chandrasekharan and it did not, he said.
