None of CPM’s protests are gaining traction, so sending cadres onto the streets; no rescue operations, says Minister Janeesh

KANNUR: Sports Minister O J Janeesh said that if someone shouts slogans against Union Home Minister Amit Shah and if it feels like it is against Pinarayi Vijayan, then there is something wrong with that person’s state of mind. The minister alleged that beer bottles and stones were deliberately thrown from the university hostel towards a group of Youth Congress workers protesting against Amit Shah, with the intention of provoking a confrontation.

Janeesh said that if BJP workers had arrived and created a confrontation while protesters were raising slogans against Amit Shah, it would have been understandable. However, he questioned why an organisation that is part of the INDIA bloc would intervene against such a protest.

The minister said yesterday’s clash was initially viewed as an immature response by the SFI. However, opposition leader, former ministers and MLAs subsequently arrived at the spot. He alleged that they together attempted to turn the incident into a major protest against the Youth Congress. Janeesh also alleged that the former ministers tried to create the impression that the incidents had taken place with his tacit consent. The repeated black-flag protests today indicated that the provocation and confrontation by the SFI against the Youth Congress march yesterday had been deliberate.

DYFI leaders have said that they will confront ministers on the streets. However, Janeesh said that, whatever happens, we will not carry out any rescue operation and that he could confidently send his colleagues there. He said his colleagues would never physically confront anyone and that the UDF government had no objection to anyone responding democratically. However, he clarified that if the method of protest involved violence, the system would naturally intervene.

Janeesh questioned what kind of protest involved throwing stones and beer bottles at Youth Congress workers who were demonstrating. Mocking the incident, he said they did not need the beer bottle and suggested that the protesters could simply return it and take the money themselves.

The minister alleged that the impact of the Left Front’s defeat in the Assembly elections had still not subsided and that none of the CPM’s protests were gaining traction. He claimed that the CPM was therefore trying to provoke its cadres and bring them onto the streets, hoping that someone would suffer a casualty and that the resulting issue could be used to make a political comeback.