The Valiyathura police in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, June 14, booked two Youth Congress workers from Kannur who protested against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan onboard an Indigo flight while traveling from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram.
Youth Congress Mattannur Mandalam president Farseen Majeed (28) and Kannur district secretary RK Naveenkumar 34 were detained on June 13, for raising slogans against the CM. According to the police, they have been charged under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention).
The Youth Congress workers raised slogans against Pinarayi after the flight landed in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday evening. One of them was wearing black. A video clip of the incident released on social media by Youth Congress state vice-president and former MLA KS Sabarinathan showed senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and Left Democratic Front convener EP Jayarajan pushing away the protesters. Jayarajan was accompanying the CM in the flight.
Youth Congress has alleged that EP Jayarajan and gunmen of the CM badly beat up the protesters. One of the Youth Congress workers also alleged that they were denied medical aid at the airport. EP Jayarajan had alleged that the workers were drunk and tried to attack the CM. He also alleged that Congress was adopting the tactics of terror groups.
Opposition leader VD Satheesan on Tuesday, addressing a press conference, said that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is acting like a bigger autocrat than Hitler, Narendra Modi and Yogi Adithyanath by foisting attempt-to-murder murder charges on two Youth Congress activists, who raised slogans inside an aircraft.
"What purpose is served by registering attempt-to-murder case against the activists who merely raised a slogan by repeating the word protest? It should be noted that the police however did not register any case against EP Jayarajan who assaulted them," Satheesan said. The Opposition leader said it is now clear that Jayarajan had lied to the media as a medical examination has proved that the Youth Congress workers were not drunk.
Satheesan said the CPM has unleashed violence across the state attacking their offices and workers. "They ransacked the KPCC office. Several DCC offices came under attack. In Idukki, the DCC president was brutally assaulted. In Payyannur, the head of a Gandhi statue was smashed by commmunist party workers. Normally, people belonging to Sangh Parivar do this to Gandhi statues," he said.
Satheesan also alleged that bombs were thrown at their party office in Kannur and three other offices were set on fire. "This is what terrorism looks like, not sloganeering inside an aircraft," Satheesan said.