Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala has said that the strike launched by the pro-Left Democratic Front employees’ and teachers’ organisations was a total failure.
Inaugurating a leadership meeting organised by the District Congress Committee (DCC) here on Monday, Mr. Chennithala said that the agitators should think whether they had achieved anything. “Even when the strike was launched, there was a simultaneous demand for settling the strike. The understanding that the strike was weak was behind such a demand. The strike was ended as employees and people turned down the strike call,” he said.
Referring to the land agitation launched by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], he said that CPI (M) was organising strikes just for the sake of strikes. “The government did not care when the CPI(M) launched the land agitation and erected party flags on land. So now they are putting up huts on these lands. The agitation lost its steam when it was understood that even if they set up huts or buildings, they could not mobilise people. The CPI (M) is now agitating in the land given to (the former cricketer) Kapil Dev by the V.S. Achuthanandan government,” he said.
He alleged that the CPI (M) was organising such agitations to save its face as the party’s support base had eroded following the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T.P. Chandrasekharan. “The Democratic Youth Federation of India could not mobilise even 1,000 people for its youth march in Kannur. That agitation was one of the most failed agitations,” he said.
DCC president A.A. Shukoor presided. The former MLA D. Sugathan and KPCC general secretary C.R. Jayaprakash spoke.
