A tense situation prevailed in Munnar on Saturday after the police forcibly removed Pengal Otrumai activists Gomathy and Kausalya, who have been on an indefinite hunger strike since Monday demanding a public apology from Electricity Minister M.M. Mani for his comments on the women’s collective, from the protest venue.
Ms. Gomathy, Ms. Kausalya, and Ms. Rajeswary, who started the agitation, demanded the Minister’s resignation. Ms. Rajeswary was removed to the Taluk Hospital, Adimaly, after her condition worsened in the morning.
By 3 p.m., women police personnel, in a sudden move, entered the agitation venue and forcibly moved Ms. Gomathy and Ms. Kausalya into ambulances. Ms. Gomathy resisted and was carried to the ambulance.
The police said the women were taken to hospital as doctors said their condition became critical after the stir entered the sixth day on Saturday. Pengal Otrumai activists alleged that the police crackdown was a CPI(M) ploy. Ms. Gomathy and Ms. Kausalya refused to take medicines and said they would continue the stir in the hospital.
