© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The controversy over the botched conduct of Thrissur’s iconic Pooram festival on the eve of the recent Lok Sabha elections has continued to roil Kerala politics.
The latest twist in the row has come in the form of a police probe report into the Pooram event fiasco, which has been submitted by additional director general of police (ADGP), law and order, M R Ajith Kumar to the home department under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Notably, ADGP Kumar, known to be a confidant of CM Vijayan, has himself been in the eye of a storm over his meeting with RSS leaders, including its general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, last year. The Opposition Congress-led UDF has alleged that the ADGP-RSS meeting had led to police “disrupting” the annual Pooram festival which, it claimed, “contributed” to BJP candidate Suresh Gopi’s win from the Thrissur seat in the Lok Sabha polls.
To make matters worse for the CPM-led LDF, even its key partner CPI as well as the CPM-backed Independent legislator P V Anvar have also echoed the Congress’s allegations in this regard.
The crowd management by the police during the Thrissur Pooram event on April 19-20 was blamed for spoiling it. Amid uncertainty gripping the festival then, Gopi had intervened to reassure its organisers and put the event back on track by getting the ritualistic fireworks conducted in daylight. It was claimed that his move “influenced” the April 26 voting in his favour, leading to his win that gave the BJP its first-ever Lok Sabha seat in the state.
Referring to the ADGP Kumar’s probe report on the Pooram disruption, CM Vijayan on Monday told a public meeting in Thrissur, “There was a bid to disturb the conduct of Pooram. Everyone was convinced about it. The report has reached the DGP, but I haven’t seen it so far.” Vijayan admitted this about the Pooram disruption for the first time.
Although the ADGP’s report is yet to be made public, CPI leader V S Sunil Kumar, who finished as the runner-up behind Gopi in the Thrissur seat, alleged, “There was conspiracy behind the Pooram mess-up. We cannot accept if the police report’s findings say that there was no external interference behind it. I am sure there was external interference to disrupt the event.”
Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan demanded a judicial probe to “bring out the truth”.
This “conspiracy” theory was fuelled by Anvar, who accused the ADGP of allegedly having links with the criminal world. Anvar also slammed Vijayan’s political secretary and CPM colleague P Sasi, who is considered a key link between the party and the home department. He called Sasi a “total failure”, charging him with “shielding” the ADGP.
On the ADGP-RSS meeting, Vijayan had said, “We (CPM) do not have the habit of deputing any police officer for any kind of political discussions. The allegations against Ajith Kumar are under probe. If an officer had met any leader of an organisation or the party, and if such meetings are in such a manner affecting the discharge of official duties, there would be action as per the law.”
Last Saturday, Vijayan also rose to the defence of his political secretary while taking on Anvar, saying that his allegations against Sasi and the home department’s functioning have been “rejected with contempt” and “don’t deserve an examination”. He also said Anvar lacked “Left culture”.
Taking a cue from Vijayan’s stand, the CPM state secretariat said next day that the allegations made by Anvar are under the scrutiny of the government as well as the party. It said Anvar had however been levelling allegations against the government and the party repeatedly through the media, asserting that the party cannot agree with his stand. It is providing ammunition to their rivals to target them, the CPM state secretariat said, urging Anvar to “correct such approaches and desist from the move to weaken the party”.
Anvar then said he was retreating for the time being as per the party’s direction.
The CPM recently removed party heavyweight E P Jayarajan as the LDF convener over his interaction with the BJP’s Kerala in- charge Prakash Javadekar ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The ADGP-RSS meeting and the Pooram event fiasco have given the Opposition camp fresh ammunition to accuse the CPM of having “links” with the Sangh Parivar, alleging that the party’s “facade of secularism has collapsed”. Vijayan has rejected these accusations as baseless.
