CPM parivar is again in violence spree, as always. On March 3, about 30 workers of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of CPM, stormed into the Asianet News offices in Kochi.
They were shouting “their” slogans against Asianet News. They disrupted the office activities. They also put up a banner which reads, “This establishment is an insult to civilised Kerala”. In a report, Asianet News described the attack as a “brazen act of hooliganism”.
The latest provocation for SFI’s hooliganism was the alleged “faked” interview, Asianet aired of a minor girl last year in connection with a news report on the drug mafia.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that the police were investigating this complaint regarding the “fake interview”. CPM has been campaigning against Asianet since the channel started airing debates and news, which did not go well with their (CPM’s) taste. The following are the Asianet’s Associate Editor Vinu V John’s remarks which provoked CPM.
Vinu, hosting a channel discussion, said, “Elamaram Kareem’s vehicle should have been attacked. And the people in it whether it was his family, should be brought out of the vehicle. His vehicle’s tyre should have been punctured. Just like Yasir (a victim of hartal day violence) was treated, Elamaram Kareem (National general secretary of CITU, trade union wing of CPM) should have been hit on his face. Then he will understand whether it was equal to scratching or pinching.”
Binu was referring to Kareem’s statement ridiculing the protests against the hartal supporters’ atrocities against Yasir, as mentioned earlier during the national hartal, called for by the join forum of various trade unions, including INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC.
Hartal was carried out on March 28 and 29, 2022. Kareem stated that the hartal is in the interests of the people. He said: “We had given the strike call two months ago…. Now they say someone was scratched and pinched.”
This episode aggravates CPM’s enmity towards Asianet. Going back to the history of Asianet, from the very beginning Hindu and Nationalist forces had been complaining that Asianet news and programmes had supported Left forces and Congress and were dead against RSS, BJP and Hindutva forces. And, this Opposition was, to a great extent, true too. But, since the last few years, Asianet has been changing; naturally, the treatment towards Hindu and Nationalist forces has changed as well, thanks to the changes that took place at the top echelons of the Malayalam channel.
At the same time, Asianet has been in the lead role in exposing the hypocrisy of CPM and Left forces. Gold smuggling, Light Mission scandal, allegations of money laundering against CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Swapana Suresh’s disclosures, allegations of blatant corruption charges against LDF ministers and leaders, CPM’s infights, and so on.
Observers believe that thus there are abundant reasons for enmity between CPM and Asianet. Now, Asianet reports, thirty SFI men were booked under IPC Sections 143 (Unlawful assembly), 147 (Rioting) and 149 (Offences against public tranquillity).
Reports suggest the agitators had congregated on the road adjacent to Asianet offices before the attack on and intrusion into the offices. Their action was akin to preventing the staff from doing their duties; they threatened the staff. They were led by the district president, district secretary, district treasurer and area secretary of SFI. These aspects are more than enough to substantiate that the attack was a carefully orchestrated one.
Asiaient blames the Police inaction in preventing the attack despite the attackers’ congregation on the roadside. If the conspiracy angle is investigated, the involvement of some leaders would be exposed. The channel demanded a thorough inquiry into the attack.
The Press Council of India and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists have condemned the attack. A lot of protest marches took place throughout the State. Press Council said such “strong-arm tactics have no place in a democracy” and urged the Government of Kerala to investigate the incident immediately.
But, these protests against the attack on press freedom are very much selective. Because Kerala streets were not fortunate enough to witness any protests like this after Janam TV crew members were attacked and manhandled in the JNU campus on January 24, 2023. They were attacked when tension mounted on the campus in connection with the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question” screening.
CPM central leadership does not react. State leadership would not condemn either.
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