Pinarayi Vijayan slams ‘declaration of war’ on students
Police response to the incident reflects the government’s double standards, says Leader of the Opposition
Cyber attacks by Congress and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) supporters against Students Federation of India (SFI) activist Nafeesathul Misri for raising questions before the Higher Education Minister at Maharaja’s College, as well as the State-sponsored “witch-hunt” being carried out by the police by arraigning students as accused, are highly undemocratic and inhuman, Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan said in a Facebook post.
The same Minister, Roji M. John, had remained indifferent when a Sangh Parivar nominee was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sympathisers were packed into the Senate and Syndicate, and 32 RSS affiliates were appointed to various Boards of Studies of Calicut University. The students were questioning the Minister’s subservience to the Sangh Parivar as he is also the local MLA who has facilitated the anti-student actions of the present Vice-Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, who was appointed as a nominee of the former Governor, he said.
The government’s stark double standards and appeasement politics are evident in the police response. While not even a petty case was registered even when Sangh Parivar activists humiliated the Minister for Local Self-Government leaving him stranded on the road, no time was lost to retaliate by invoking non-bailable charges against students who merely raised questions before a Minister. Such declaration of war on students will be met with strong protests, Mr. Vijayan said.
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