Scores of Emergency detenus in the State who have been waiting for years for pension are a disappointed lot now with the LDF government virtually rejecting repeated pleas from them and many political and cultural leaders.
The Emergency detenus, among whom there are many from the CPI(M), including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, have been exerting pressure on the government citing the poor financial and physical health of many among them, but the government appears disinclined to hear their waning voice. What worries the Emergency detenus these days is the possibility of the government having closed the issue with the decision not to pay pension to them, as reported by a section of the media.
“When we demand pension, we are not asking for financial assistance, but recognition of the Emergency prisoners on par with freedom fighters and conversion of the ‘torture centres’ as national monuments. We think our demand has a special relevance at a time when the shadow of fascism envelopes the people,” said T.N. Joy, himself an Emergency detenu and a persistent campaigner for pension for the detenus.
Several Left-leaning cultural leaders, who had come out in support of the Emergency detenus’ demand, have now asked the government not to shut the doors on the detenus. Referring to media reports that the government had decided not to consider their plea, the cultural leaders led by poet K. Satchidanandan have called upon the government to remember that if it chose not to accept the detenus’ demand, it would be tantamount to failure to historicise their deeds.
“We urge the government to review its decision, given the contemporaneity that the word ‘fascism’ has acquired in our times,” the signatories to a statement on the subject said. Other signatories to the statement were Paul Zacharia, B. Rajeevan, Riyas Komu, Sunil P. Elayidom, Savithri Rajeevan, P.N. Gopikrishnan and C.S. Venkiteswaran.
