Kerala chief minister justifies encounter killings
TRIVANDRUM: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday justified last week’s killing of four Maoists and arrests of two students under a harsh anti-terror law saying they were not holy souls, even as the public outrage continued.
Responding to the criticism of the Congressled opposition in the state’s legislative assembly, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM strongman said they were trying to glorify them as “innocent lambs”.
Citing killings of security forces and farmers by Maoists in states like Chhatisgarh and Bihar and his own party men in West Bengal, he wondered if the opposition benches wanted such a situation in Kerala.
He rejected their demand for adjourning regular business to discuss the crackdown, following which the opposition, barring the lone member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a walkout.
Also on Monday, a court in the northern city of Kozhikode posted the bail plea of imprisoned students, Thaha Faisal, 24, and Alan Shuhaib, 19, both members of Vijayan’s CPM, for hearing on Thursday.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said Kerala had become the first Indian state to arrest youngsters just for keeping leaflets supporting the ideology of Mao Zedong.
“The chief minister’s arguments sound like he’s siting in the chair of Adolf Hitler,” he said.
“We had never justified Maoists. They had gun ned down many of our top leaders likevc sh uk la. But we cannot accept misusing the law.” He said though the Congress government was architects of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA, never used it indiscriminately. The BJP government amended it naming individuals as terrorists.
“You are following the footsteps of Modi in curbing freedom of speech and the victims here are those inspired by your own ideology,” he said. “You also supported armed struggle to overthrow elected governments in your party’s 1968 plenum. It’s interesting to see you jailing students for keeping Maoist literature now.” He equated the killings to the fake encounter-killing of Ishrath Jehan in Gujarat when Modi was the chief minister.
Referring to the statement of CPI assistant secretary Prakash Babu, who led a fact-finding mission to the encounter spot, that the police was killing Maoist leader Manivasakam pointblank in custody ater torture, he said Vijayan should face the law for the fake encounter if he’s to be believed.
Several public intellectuals have expressed solidarity with families of the two youngsters arrested under the UPA oten misused against political opponents.