The school education sector in Kerala is undergoing a severe financial crisis, yet the state government has no effective plan or intent to address it. The Union Government’s PM SHRI scheme, which can significantly benefit students from socio-economically weaker backgrounds, has been deliberately rejected by the Kerala government solely because of its association with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
On April 18 2025, a delegation of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), led by Kerala State Secretary E.U. Eswaraprasad, met with Education Minister V Sivankutty to urge the immediate implementation of the PM SHRI scheme. However, the CPI(M)-led state government refused. In the following weeks, ABVP launched a series of democratic protests and awareness campaigns across the state demanding the adoption of this scheme. On June 17, the ABVP activists held a Secretariat March, and from June 20 onwards, launched black flag protests against the Education Minister in cities like Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
Frustrated by this peaceful and democratic movement, the state government, in collaboration with the violent student outfit SFI – known for its history of campus brutality – has resorted to a cowardly and planned act of political vendetta. On the night of 21 June, when ABVP State Secretary E.U. Eswaraprasad was heading to a restaurant near Thiruvananthapuram Railway Station for dinner, he was brutally assaulted by a group of SFI goons. He was surrounded and beaten mercilessly, leaving him seriously injured and now admitted to the ICU.
This was not an isolated act of violence—it was a premeditated political conspiracy backed by the Education Minister himself, who is known to openly shelter SFI criminals. The attack was intended to suppress the growing student movement, crush ABVP’s leadership, and silence the voice of Kerala’s youth demanding educational justice.
ABVP’s National General Secretary Dr Virendra Singh Solanki stated, “The cowardly attack on ABVP Kerala State Secretary E.U. Eswaraprasad proves that the Leftist government in Kerala has intellectually collapsed and is now relying solely on state power, administrative misuse, and organised violence to muzzle student rights. This government has become a murderer of student aspirations. The assault is clearly a joint operation of the CPI(M) government, the Education Minister, and their pet criminal outfit SFI. ABVP will never tolerate such fascist suppression. If the Kerala government does not immediately implement the PM SHRI scheme, take strict action against the perpetrators of this attack, and ensure that campuses are free from political violence, ABVP will launch a massive state-wide protest. Every inch of Kerala will witness student resistance. The entire responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with the state government.”
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