Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 27 (PTI) The Kerala Assembly was on Monday disrupted following heated exchanges between the ruling Left front and the opposition UDF on an adjournment motion by the latter to discuss the alleged police brutality recently against youth wing workers of the Congress and IUML.
Initially the session was stopped by Speaker A N Shamseer for nearly half-an-hour after several MLAs from both the ruling Left front and UDF refused to heed his directions to maintain order in the House by returning to their seats.
The disruption began with several ruling front MLAs interrupting the walkout speech of Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan after the adjournment motion moved by the UDF was rejected by the Speaker in view of the explanations given by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
As the LoP’s walkout speech was continuously disturbed despite the Speaker’s direction to the contrary, several opposition MLAs trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans, placards and banners in front of Speaker’s dais.
Subsequently, the House proceedings were stopped briefly and when it recommenced after around 30 minutes, Satheesan was allowed to continue his speech.
The LoP, however, demanded an answer from Vijayan as to whether any action would be taken against the two senior officers of Kalamassery police station who allegedly manhandled a woman Youth Congress (YC) worker and also Congress MLA Shafi Parambil.
As the CM did not respond and several ruling front MLAs began shouting, many UDF legislators again trooped into the well of the House and refrained from returning to their seats as directed by the Speaker.
As they continued to raise slogans and hold up placards before the Speaker’s dais, Shamseer said that since the assembly proceedings cannot be carried forward normally due to the disruption being caused by the opposition, the House was going to continue with its other business.
Thereafter, amidst the sloganeering by the opposition, responses by concerned ministers to the submissions by legislators were tabled, reports regarding demands for grants by various departments were presented and the Kerala Appropriation Bill was passed without any discussion.
Subsequently, the Speaker said that the assembly would reconvene on Tuesday.
Prior to the House proceedings being disrupted, Vijayan opposed the adjournment motion saying that the YC workers were lathi-charged by the police and arrested at Kalamassery in Ernakulam district recently as they had attacked the police with sticks and stones.
“Six Civil police officers and six YC workers were injured in the violence. They were also provided medical aid. Twelve YC workers were arrested and a case has been lodged against them,” Vijayan said in the House.
The CM also said a case was also registered against YC state president Parambil and some others for allegedly trying to forcibly enter the Kalamassery police station and prevent the officers from discharging their duties.
Vijayan also accused the Congress-led UDF of not protesting against the Centre when it hiked taxes and cess on petroleum products 13 times and said there was nothing wrong with the police action taken.
He said the opposition was not taking into consideration the problems — like the Centre’s policies which were financially choking Kerala — that prompted the state to levy the fuel cess.
The Congress-led UDF, on the other hand claimed in the adjournment motion moved by Parambil and some other MLAs that the YC workers were attacked from behind by police and denied that they had thrown sticks and stones at the police.
The opposition also accused the Left government in Kerala of being a Malayalam version of the Narendra Modi regime at the Centre.
In his walkout speech, Satheesan questioned the need for preventive detention of YC workers while they were sleeping in their homes and the huge police presence along the CM’s travel route if there were only one or two protestors from the youth wing of the Congress as contended by the CM.
“If there were only one or two YC workers, what was the need for preventive detention? Why such a huge police presence? Why did CM hide behind the police? “Such tactics will not deter us from protesting. If we want to show black flags, we will. This is not Stalin’s Russia,” the LoP said.
He also said a woman YC worker was manhandled and taken into custody by a male police officer which was a violation of the law and demanded action against the officer concerned.
The opposition also said that when UDF was in power, the Left front had waved black flags and hurled stones at the then CM, Oommen Chandy.
“We assure you, we will not throw stones at your CM,” Satheesan said.
The Congress leader also claimed that when the party protested during COVID times, by maintaining social distancing, against central policies, the Kerala police had lodged cases against them, including him.
The opposition was protesting against the preventive detention of its party’s youth wing workers during Vijayan’s recent visits to various districts in the state.
It also claimed that police had “cruelly attacked” protesting Youth Congress activists in Kalamassery in Ernakulam district of the state.
Several YC activists and policemen suffered injuries when the march taken out by the workers, demanding the rollback of fuel cess and other tax proposals in the state budget, turned violent on February 21. PTI HMP ROH ROH
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