“Whatever happened at the University College in Thiruvananthapuram shouldn’t had happened at any cost in any campus,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
This is the first time that the CM has reacted to the recent incident where a third-year undergraduate student was stabbed by SFI activists at the University College in Thiruvananthapuram.
Six accused in the case, all activists of the SFI, have been arrested in connection with the incident.
“The government has been moving ahead with stern action on it and everyone must have realised it by now. The action in this regard won’t be diluted,” Pinarayi said at a press conference on Monday.
SFI, the student wing of the ruling CPI(M) in the state, has been subjected to ruthless attack by political opponents as well as in general by the public, ever since the stabbing incident on Friday.
While CPI(M) leader and Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said that an utter failure in hell would have been better than being involved in such incidents, CPI (M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that the party won’t support the SFI members involved in it.
Former Chief Minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy meanwhile has demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
"The most famous college which is 150 years old, has now plunged the depths of degeneration. Several eminent personalities used to teach and study there," Oommen Chandy said at a press meet on Monday.
Activists of Congress's Kerala Students Union (KSU), including state president KM Abhijith, began indefinite hunger strike in front of the Secretariat on Friday evening. Oommen Chandy inaugurated the strike.
World Bank picks Kerala as development partner
The Chief Minister also said that the World Bank has chosen Kerala as its development partner. “It is the World Bank Director for India Junaid Ahmad Kamal who informed this. The state is chosen as a development partner more than being a partner in a particular project,” the CM said.
The conclave for attracting funds and technical assistance for rebuilding the state was held on Friday with representatives of the World Bank and other funding agencies. The CM said that the response has been more than expected.