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In flight, Youth Congress workers raise slogans against Kerala CM Vijayan
The Kerala CM Vijayan’s security staff and Jayarajan, who was travelling with Vijayan, overpowered the Youth Congress workers and handed them over to CISF, which manages security at airports.
Two Youth Congress workers on Monday boarded a passenger plane at Kannur airport in which Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was travelling to Thiruvananthapuram and showed him black flags to protest alleged police repression. LDF convenor EP Jayarajan described the incident as a “terror activity”, while Congress said it was a symbolic protest against “state-sponsored repression”.
The CM was in Kannur for a three-day official visit.
The CM’s security staff and Jayarajan, who was travelling with Vijayan, overpowered the Youth Congress workers and handed them over to CISF, which manages security at airports.
“It was a plan to attack the CM physically. We averted the incident at the nick of time,” Jayarajan said, adding that Congress was playing with fire.
He said it was worse than a “terror attack”. CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan also condemned the incident, saying the Youth Congress workers were planning to attack the CM.
Congress leader VD Satheesan, however, termed it a “symbolic protest against police repression”. “For last one week or so the CM moves in a cavalcade of 200-odd policemen. When cops were thrashing protestors, the CM was challenging them. It was a symbolic protest against state-sponsored repression,” he said.
One of the protestors, Youth Congress Mattanur block president Farseen Majid, said their intention was only to register a protest, and they were “attacked brutally” by the CM’s security staff and Jayarajan at the airport and he suffered critical injuries.
Later, local police took them to a hospital in Kannur for medical tests.
Police said the Youth Congress workers bought tickets, and boarded the aircraft after security check and raised slogans once the CM settled on his seat.
Kannur range DIG Rahul Nair said they had an intelligence report on this, and they alerted CISF, but both got into the aircraft after showing the medical history of a cancer patient undergoing treatment at the Regional Cancer Centre in the state capital.
Soon after the airport incident came to light, angry CPI(M) workers organised protests at many places and attacked the Congress state headquarters in the state capital. They pelted stones, destroyed boards and smashed cars parked on the premises of the Congress state headquarters.
Senior Congress leader AK Antony, who was at the office when the attack took place, condemned the incident and sought a reply from Vijayan.
Earlier, Youth Congress state vice-president and former MLA KS Sabarinathan released a three-second video on the social media in which the two workers of the organisation were seen raising slogans seeking the CM’s resignation and a man, who accompanied Vijayan, then forcefully pushed them aside.
In the video, as the duo fell, they could be heard asking whether people do not have the right to protest. In a Facebook post, Sabarinathan alleged it was senior CPI(M) leader Jayarajan who pushed the protesting Youth Congress workers.
Vijayan has been facing protests by Congress and BJP workers since the gold smuggling case key accused Swapna Suresh claimed that the CM and his family had a role in some smuggling activities.
