A large number of women from across the State, including workers of the Mahila Congress, the women’s wing of the Congress, assembled at Kallyot at Periye in Kasaragod on Tuesday to protest the murder of Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarath Lal on February 17 by alleged Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers.
According to organisers, nearly 2,000 women gathered at Kallyot, where the twin murders had occurred, to attend the Mahila Congress’s ‘Gathering of mothers and sisters to protest against the CPI(M)’s political killing’. Video footage on the lives of the two slain youths, including a percussion performance by them, was screened at the venue. Eyewitnesses said many women turned emotional as they watched the videos.
Members of the Yuvajana Vadyakala Sangham, set up by the slain youths, also gave a percussion performance to pay homage to the youths.
Addressing the gathering, Krishnan, Kripesh’s father, said he hoped that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would be moved by the mourning of women who gathered at the venue and order a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the murders. Sathya Narayanan, Sarath Lal’s father, said he was determined to get justice for the slain youths. Congress leader Shanimol Usman, Revolutionary Marxist Party leader K.K. Rama, widow of T.P. Chandrasekharan, who had been hacked to death by CPI(M) workers, Mahila Congress leader Chaman Farzana were among those present.
Dheera Smrithi Yatra
Meanwhile, the Dheera Smrithi Yatra being undertaken by the Youth Congress carrying the ashes of the slain youths reached Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
The procession culminated at the Gandhi Park and the ashes were kept at the District Congress Committee office. They will be immersed at Thiruvallam Sree Parasurama Temple at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday.