Activists of Mahila Morchcha, a frontal organization of the BJP, brought normal life in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram to a grinding halt for hours on Monday as they staged a well planned demonstration in front of the State Secretariat demanding the resignation of Kerala ministers E P Jayarajan and K T Jaleel who according to them are allegedly involved in gold smuggling and ‘massive corruption’.
Despite lathi charge and using of water canons many times , the riot police could not disperse the Morchcha activists who turned the police barricades in front of the Secretariat upside down.
“We have not seen this kind of demonstration at least in the recent past. These women activists have done their home work well,” said Shyam Babu Koroth, who has been covering the agitations in front of the Secretariat for years.
Activists of the ABVP, BJYM and the BJP too joined the demonstration but they kept a safe distance from the militant workers of the Mahila Morchcha who were in no mood to listen to the cops who asked them to disperse before the lathi charging.
The BJP intensified its ongoing agitation by Monday morning as a section of the media reported about the involvement of minister Jayarajan’s son and wife in gold smuggling and LIFE Mission corruption charges. K Surendran, state chief of the BJP in his media briefing on Monday morning said that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was the epicenter of the entire smuggling and corruption. “We demand the interrogation of Vijayan, his daughter Veena, son Kiran and son-in-law Mohammed Riyaaz in connection with gold smuggling and other corruption charges,” charged Surendran.
“These are Devis against a Devil. The real Naari Sakthi is waging a battle against corrupt elements,” said Prof V T Rema, former chief of the Mahila Morchha. The slogans they raised were hitherto unheard of in any agitations in front of the Secretariat, she said.