CPM’s response to double murder draws flak

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even three days after Periya twin murder, confusion within the CPM over the incident remains unresolved. The visit of revenue minister E Chandrasekharan and a CPI leader from Kasaragod to the houses of slain Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarath Lal on Thursday was without the knowledge of LDF leadership.
LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan, who didn’t welcome the move, had to quickly change the stand as he sensed public sentiments were deeply against the CPM and LDF. Vijayaraghavan told reporters that he felt more solid measures to bring back peace was the need of the hour than mere visit of leaders to the houses of those killed. Within two hours, Vijayaraghavan issued a clarification as his displeasure over the minister’s visit began to dominate news channel reports.

“The campaign by a section of media that I criticised the visit of Chandrasekharan is not factual. When reporters asked me about the incident, I said the minister could visit (their houses). I told them that the LDF hasn’t decided to visit their house. The LDF doesn’t discourage the visit of leaders to houses where deaths occurred,” he said in the statement.

Meanwhile, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who issued a statement condemning the plantain-protest carried out by Youth Congress workers at Kerala Sahitya Akademi, faced the ire of social media users. On Wednesday, a group of YC workers placed plantain stems on the official car of Kerala Sahitya Akademi chairman in Thrissur as a symbolic gesture to condemn the silence by cultural leaders on the gruesome political murder.

“Sahitya Akademi represents Malayalam cultural world. It is condemnable that a group of anti-socials entered the Akademi premises and humiliated litterateurs. Nobody has the right to order writers to respond in a specific manner. Humiliating writers is not in tune with our state’s culture,” Pinarayi Vijayan wrote on his Facebook page. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan also condemned the incident. “The act of Congress is not in tune with the progressive nature of our state,” said Kodiyeri.

CM’s post was greeted with comments criticizing his ‘spontaneous concern’ over the incident, which they felt was not there when two youths were brutally murdered. Congress MLA V T Balram who posted a tit-for-tat reply to the post as a comment received over 11,000 likes by Thursday night whereas the post of Vijayan could garner only 8,000 likes.