Apolitical groups seize the initiative

They press for the resignation of Finance Minister K.M. Mani

Thiruvananthapuram Kerala Kerala 24/01/2015:: The police action against activists of the Yuva Morcha who took out a Secretariat march demanding the resignation of Finance Minister K. M. Mani in Thiruvananthapuram.................Photo:S.Gopakumar

The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched a stir demanding the ouster of Finance Minister K. M. Mani even as apolitical groups seemed to be seizing the initiative to press for the resignation of Mr. Mani.

The BJP organised torchlight processions at some places on Friday night while its youth wing took out a march to the Secretariat on Saturday. Tension prevailed in front of the Secretariat as Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) workers tried to barge into the Secretariat by jumping police barricades. The police had to use water cannons and teargas to control them. However, it all calmed down in 15 minutes as BJP State president V. Muraleedharan arrived to inaugurate a dharna and the television cameras moved away.

EnteVaka500

Meanwhile, an apolitical campaign with the hash tag EnteVaka500 (That is, Rs.500 contribution to Mr. Mani) on Facebook has gone viral and the Facebook community promoting the campaign is planning to take their protest against Mr. Mani to the streets in Kochi. According to their announcement on Facebook, they would come out on the streets with begging bowls for Mr. Mani “who had to take bribes from liquor barons.” A number of them have already sent money orders to Mr. Mani.

The BJP, on its part, is planning a hartal on Tuesday. The questions that Mr. Muraleedharan faced from young reporters at the press conference he called to announce the hartal was whether the BJP was serious about the agitation. Why had it not pursued the agitations and causes that it espoused in the past?

The main Opposition party, CPI (M) is already facing the allegations that it had abandoned agitations against the government half-way through. Criticism has even come from LDF constituents such as the CPI. The BJP State president himself asked why the LDF’s hartal for resignation of Mr. Mani was confined to Pala.

The problem, as far as the established political parties are concerned, is that they have themselves hobnobbed with Kerala Congress at one time or the other during the long innings of Mr. Mani as its leader. There were talks about Mr. Mani aligning with the LDF as well as the BJP just before allegations against bribe-taking for renewing bar licences came to the fore. Besides, leaders of all the mainstream parties faced corruption charges.