Condemning the police action against Youth Congress and Kerala Students Union (KSU) protesters in the State capital on Tuesday, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president V.M. Sudheeran blasted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan saying he is "intoxicated by power."
Addressing journalists in Kozhikode on Wednesday, Mr. Sudheeran said that the response to the police action was unbecoming of a Chief Minister. “The Chief Minister is blatantly telling lies. He is behaving like a dictator. Kerala will not tolerate such a megalomaniac,” he added.
The Congress leader said that the Chief Minister was haunted by the ghost of Sir C.P. [C.P. Ramaswami Iyer of erstwhile Madras Presidency] and that was evident in the police firing grenades and lobbing tear-gas shells at the Youth Congress and KSU leaders who were peacefully protesting inside a makeshift pandal against the fee hike for management in self-financing colleges.
Mr. Sudheeran also demanded that the government order an inquiry into incidents on Tuesday and initiate disciplinary action against police men involved in attacking the agitators. Such an incident had never occurred in the State before.
He also demanded that the Left government roll back the hike in fee structure of self financing colleges. The increase in fee between Rs 65,000 to Rs 3.5 lakh for different courses a year had no reason or logic. Even the fees at the Pariyaram Medical College run by the Left controlled Kerala State Cooperative Hospital Complex and Centre for Advanced Medical Sciences had been hiked.
The CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front government should not easily forget the martyrs of the Koothuparamba firing who had opposed the self financing colleges in the State, Mr. Sudheeran said.
