Kerala’s capital city, Thiruvananthapuram, stood at the needlepoint of anxiety for several hours on Tuesday afternoon after an ABVP activist threatened to commit suicide atop a tree demanding the resignation of lekshmi Nair, principal of the private Kerala law Academy law College accused of harassing students, and her arrest for anti-Dalit conduct. The law College students have been agitating for the past 28 days raising the same demands.
Dramatic scenes continued at the gates of the law College even after Shimith, ABVP activist and a final-year llB student of the law College, was safely brought down the tree by the Fire Force after understanding was reached at as the Fire Force prevented the self immolation bid by an activist of the pro-Congress students’ outfit, KSU.
Fears are now being expressed that Tuesday’s incidents perhaps indicated that the students’ agitation, which has been peaceful for the past 28 days, was acquiring a disturbing form as the agitators have started losing their patience in the context of the absence of any serious effort from the part of the college management or the CPI(M)-led lDF Government.
The State capital plunged into tension by 2.15 PM Tuesday when Shimith climbed up a banyan tree outside the college campus and threatened to commit suicide demanding the resignation of lekshmi Nair, accused of harassing and victimising the students, as principal. Rumours to the effect that the bag Shimith was carrying had contained poison also caused anxiety.
The agitating students foiled the attempt of the police and Fire and Rescue personnel to bring the ABVP activist down the tree by overpowering him. They said Shimith the protest would not end until they got the assurance that lekshmi Nair would be arrested, her passport would be seized and that the law College issue would be discussed at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.
They also wanted an assurance that Shimith would not face legal proceedings for attempt to commit suicide. Thiruvananthapuram Sub-Collector Divya S Iyer held discussions with ABVP leaders at the spot but she said she was not competent to take decisions on her own on demands of such serious nature. She left the spot promising to be back after discussion with seniors.
The understanding was reached at around 6.15 PM following which students expressed readiness to cooperate. But Shimith, who was atop the tree and had no idea about the developments on the ground, resisted the efforts of the Fire Force to take him down. However, they succeeded in bringing him down using ropes and nets. Tension built up again at the college gates after the Fire Force used water jet to foil the attempt of a KSU activist at self immolation raising the demand that the Government should take steps to end the protest fast by Congress leader K Muraleedharan MlA in support of the students’ agitation and to find a solution to the issues the students had raised.
The protesters who mistook the Fire Force’s water jet as police’s water cannon resorted to pelting stones at the Fire Force and police personnel. State Congress president VM Sudheeran, who visited Muraleedharan who had been on the fast for the past six days at the college gates, said the MlA was having health problems but he would continue the fast. The health condition of State BJP secretary VV Rajesh, who had started a fast at the college gates in support of the agitation, also deteriorated but he would continue protest. The BJP would stage a sit-in at the gates of the law Academy on Thursday demanding initiatives from the authorities to end the students’ agitation.
Amidst the tension caused by the confrontation between the students and the police, a 64-year-old man, reportedly a passerby, collapsed on the ground.