Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat has called upon the LDF government to “undo the mistake” done by the police by charging two Kozhikode students with Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Speaking to media persons here on the sidelines of a seminar here on Thursday, Mr. Karat said the party was against the use of the Act in the case of the students. “The UAPA is a draconian law which we have always opposed. As far as the two students are concerned, the police have wrongly used this Act,” Mr. Karat said.
Mr. Karat said he would respond to the killings of Maoists in Palakkad once the magisterial inquiry into the incident was over.
A Kozhikode court had earlier rejected the bail plea of the duo. The lawyers of the students may challenge the rejection of the bail plea in the Kerala High Court.
Incidentally, several CPI(M) leaders, including Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby, had condemned the slapping of the Act against the two youths.
Later, addressing the seminar, Mr. Karat said the BJP government's economic policies of appeasing foreign capitalists and their Indian counterparts such as the Adanis and Ambanis had resulted in the economic slowdown in the country. The government was implementing these policies by creating communal divide among the people, Mr. Karat said.
The former party general secretary was speaking at a function organised by the EMS Study Centre and the CPI(M) district committee here to mark the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Communist party.
The government divided Jammu and Kashmir into two to wipe out the only State in the country with Muslim majority population. The National Citizen Register was introduced in Assam to treat Muslims as second citizens and to force them out of the country, he said.
It was the responsibility of the Communist party to take forward the agitations to protect the freedom and democracy of the country, he said.
