Protesting against the Modi government’s recent demonetisation move that badly hit the cooperative sector in Kerala, the ruling LDF on Thursday formed a 700 kilometre-human chain across all the 14 districts of the state, starting from Thiruvananthapuram all the way to Kasaragod.
State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan along with CPI(M) veteran V S Achuthanandan, party state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran were part of the chain in Thiruvananthapuram.
The rehearsal was held 15 minutes before and at 5 pm on Thursday. Later the human chain again was formed and a pledge was read out that was repeated by all.
The chain passed through the national highway and districts like Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, where the highway does not pass and the cadres joined the chain at various places in Alappuzha district.
Likewise, in the hilly districts of Idukki and Wayanad, a separate human chain was formed.
"A record one million people joined the protest and even though similar human chains was formed before, today we could see that there was participation from people cutting across political affiliations," said CPI-M State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan at a public meeting here, soon after the human chain was formed.
"Demonetisation has crippled our economy, all sectors have been badly affected through this Tughlaq style programme," Balakrishnan said.
Programmes were organised as part of this unique protest in each district. Cabinet ministers and prominent leaders from all the coalition parties comprising the LDF took part in the human chain in all districts.
The LDF state committee decided to undertake such a protest against demonetisation as reports from district offices poured in about how the common man had to bear the brunt of demonetisation which took the entire nation by shock when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the same on 08 November this year.
The LDF had earlier directed all district committees to ensure the success of the human chain. On 20 December, meetings were held in all panchayats across the state in this regard. The past two days saw LDF workers personally visit houses in all constituencies across Kerala to invite the masses to take part in the human chain protest.
Former Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President V. Muraleedharan said the CPI-M had spread the word that all those who work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme need not work for the day, but if they come for this human chain, they will get the day's wages.
"We have informed the central government about this and have demanded action as the state government is misusing their authority," said Muraleedharan in a statement here.
With IANS inputs