Kerala: SFI has ‘silent support’ of CM Vijayan, says State BJP chief after ‘attack’ on Governor’s convoy

After activists of the Students Federation of India held a black flag protest against State Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and allegedly attacked his car in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala BJP President K Surendran said that the incident has the silent support of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

SFI is a student wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI).

“This (incident) has the silent support of Pinarayi Vijayan. The police officers are supporting the perpetrators. They have slowed down the vehicles and allowed the goons to come close to the Governor’s vehicle,” Surendran said, speaking to the media on December 12.

Pointing out that such acts are uncharacteristic of a democratic protest, the BJP state chief said, “The CPM goons and SFI criminals are unleashing violence against the Governor…Just 100 metres away from the police headquarters and in many other places, the criminals gathered and tried to hit the Governor’s vehicle. Is it a democratic protest? Has it happened in other states in India?”

K Surendran said that the CPM could not digest the fact that the party can no longer appoint its leaders to various posts in the universities.

“The Supreme Court said that there is no right of the Chief Minister and the CPM in the university office…Univesties are handled by the Congress and CPM for the last 70 years in Kerala. They were nominating party leaders and criminals in the universites. Now academicians and neutral personalities are coming into the universities. So CPM cannot digest these things. So they are protesting. They cannot stop the Governor from fulfiling his constitutional role,” the BJP State chief said.

Meanwhile, police have taken 17 SFI workers into custody, with seven workers being arrested for allegedly hitting the Governor’s vehicle. The case has been registered under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code.

According to a statement from the SFI, “Governor has appointed senate members in Calicut and Kerala universities from the list of RSS violating the university rules. This is undemocratic. This is an attempt to tie campuses in the RSS shed. SFI was organising a protest against this and we will continue it. Chancellor nominated members violating all rules . Our decision is that SFI will not allow the Governor to enter any campuses in Kerala. We will take up our protest in that manner. We will strengthen the protest against the Governor on the streets. In our agenda, we never aimed to physically attack the Governor or take up the protest in bad manner. Our protest will be in a democratic way. There won’t be any undemocratic protest. ”

(with inputs from ANI)