The United Democratic Front (UDF) has called for a hartal in the State on October 13 in protest against what it calls the anti-people policies of the State and Central governments. The hartal will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The hartal will end by 3 p.m. in Kochi in view of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup Football match. Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said here on Wednesday that the UDF had no option but to employ the last resort of protest, that was hartal, as the governments had tested people of Kerala beyond what they could bear.
Mr. Chennithala said both the governments were competing in putting people to maximum difficulties. “The people of Kerala have been pushed to the border. We [UDF] have no way but to react to the anti-people policies of the governments,” he said. He said the prices of goods, including petrol, diesel, and cooking gas, had skyrocketed under the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) governments. The State government failed to tackle GST, and mafia gangs were having a field day across the State.
‘People unsafe’
“People in Kerala are unsafe. The BJP and the CPI(M) are the two parties that create problems in the State. Kerala is safe sans the BJP and the CPI(M),” he said. Mr. Chennithala said BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan was not conducting a Janaraksha Yatra. “Actually, what he is holding is a Swaya Raksha Yatra [rally to save oneself],” he said.
He lashed out at the BJP and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for helping each other. He accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of offering BJP president Amit Shah a red-carpet welcome. “The CPI(M) has been showing a soft stand towards the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Mr. Shah is trying to communalise Kerala. The people here will reject it,” he said.
