The indecisiveness of the CPI-M led Kerala Government with respect to the solatium to be paid to the family of Dr Vandana Das, the slain physician of the Kottarakkara Taluk Hospital even after ten days of her cold blooded murder and last Sunday’s lynching of a Harijan migrant labour Rajesh Manjhi at Malappuram has upset the population in the State.
Sources in the investigation team probing Manjhi’s murder told this newspaper that the deceased was lynched becaue he was suspected to be an agent of the National Investigation Agency.
All the persons who have been arrested in this connection belong to a certain ideology, said the sources. Dr Das, the sole earning member of her family , who was working as a house surgeon was stabbed more than 11 times by Sandeep, a drug addict who was brought to the hospital in the wee hours of the day to get his injured leg plastered. Though he was brought under police escort to the hospital, the cops attending to him were the first ones running helter-skelter as the murderer got violent and started stabbing the hapless doctor with a scalpel.
Even after ten days the Government of Kerala has not taken any decision regarding the solatium to be paid to the family of Dr Das. The medical fraternity in the State was also shocked by the statement made by Veena George, the news reader-turned health minister of Kerala. “It was due to her incompetency and inexperience that she had to face a situation,” said George after the incident.
Later, she courted further controversy when the minister burst into tears at the residence of the deceased doctor. “Veena George was seen applying glycerin in her eyes to ensure that there would be uncontrolled flow of tears from her eyes,” said Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, former minister of home and veteran Congress ;eaders. The indecisiveness of the Pinarayi Vijayan Government is in stark contrast to what it did during the boat tragedy at Malappuram last week. “Even before the tally was disclosed, the chief minister declared that the government would pay cash compensation of Rs 10 lakh to each of the 22 victims who met a watery end following the capsizing of a fishing boat-turned-sailing boat.
We suspect a kind of discrimination by the Government even in the payment of solatium,” said Kevin Peter, general secretary, Christian Alliance for Social Action (CASA). According to Kevin Peter, the Muslims always get preferred treatment while people belonging to other communities are given a raw deal.
“The population in the State is communally divided because of this appeasement policy. All people should be given equal preference,” said Prof Stanly Sebastian, academician and edupreneur.Kevin Peter pointed out the lynching of Manjhi at Malappuram as yet another proof of this kind of appeasement.