In a serious security lapse, Kerala’s Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Sunday suffered injuries in his forehead and chest after his vehicle came under heavy stone-pelting by CPI(M) workers in Kannur, known as Kerala’s Marxist heartland. The attack on Chandy triggered instantaneous protests by Congress workers across the State.
About 200 young Marxists attacked the Chief Minister’s vehicle as he reached a ground in Kannur for a function associated with a police athletic meet. The windscreen of the car was smashed in the stone-pelting and he suffered injuries inflicted by glass shards. Chandy reached the stage of the programme with blood still oozing from the injury on his forehead.
The incident took place at about 5.30 pm Sunday. By the afternoon itself, hundreds of leftist activists had positioned themselves near the ground, where Chandy was to arrive for the programme, to agitate demanding his resignation over the infamous solar scam in which he was allegedly involved.
The stone-pelting had taken place when senior CPI(M) workers like PK Sreemathi, MV Jayarajan, P Jayarajan and others were present near the ground. As the Chief Minister’s car reached the spot, the leftist workers threw black flags at it and began to pelt stones. Even after Chandy suffered injuries, the protestors had refused to leave the place. The left has been staging agitations wherever the CM was going since June to protest against him over the solar scam.
However, the protests had been weak for the past one month. The attack on the Chief Minister occurred just when complaints were coming up from the left front itself that the agitation had been effectively withdrawn without achieving anything.
The Chief Minister received first aid after giving away the prizes for the athletes who took part in the police sports meet. Condemning the incident, State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala expressed suspicion that there was a conspiracy behind the attack but State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said his party had no role in it.
Chandy said later at a party programme in Kannur that Kerala would feel secure only when the CPI(M) relinquished its policy of violent politics. However, he said he welcomed Pinarayi’s statement that his party had no role in it. “I take it as a positive response if he had made it with sincerity,” Chandy said.
State Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said that the attack on the Chief Minister was carried out with the knowledge of senior CPI(M) leaders. PC George, Government Chief Whip, said that the State police had now proved their inability to protect even the Chief Minister while Congress MP K Sudhakaran said the Marxists would be made to pay for the attack.
Opposition leader in the State Assembly VS Achuthanandan condemned the attack on Chandy. Ramesh Chennithala said the Congress would observe Monday as a Black Day throughout the State protesting the attack. The police tightened security across Kannur district and other parts of the State in the context of Intelligence warning about possible retaliatory measures.
The attack triggered protests by the Congress and its feeder organizations all over the State. Several CPI(M) offices came under attack in southern Kerala. Observers said the attack could weaken the left’s protest against Chandy over the solar scam and that it might help Chandy, beleaguered by several scandals, regain some of his lost popularity.