Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary M.V. Govindan strongly rebutted media speculation that Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener E. P. Jayarajan deliberately kept away from the Janakeeya Prathirodha Yatra out of personal spite.
At a press conference on Thursday, Mr. Govindan said the LDF convener was not confined to any district and could join the yatra any time.
“It is not as if he (Mr. Jayarajan) deliberately avoids the party programme. He is under treatment. I had spoken to him and invited him to the yatra’s inauguration in Kasaragod,” he said, adding that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s presence alone spotlighted the event.
Mr. Govindan said Mr. Jayarajan was CPI(M)‘s “living martyr.” The Congress had hired Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) goons to kill him. The bullet remained in Mr. Jayarajan’s body, requiring long-term treatment and medical management, he said.
In the same breath, Mr. Govindan said the party would cleanse itself of “bourgeoise tendencies”, including corruption and nepotism. “Weeds are attracted to strong crops, and corruption is like weed. The party will weed it out however strong or whomever it is,” he said.
(Congress-led United Democratic Front [UDF] Opposition had earlier accused Mr. Jayarajan of giving political cover to a hill-top Ayurveda resort allegedly owned by his family in Kannur district and demanded an anti-corruption and anti-money laundering investigation in the matter. Mr. Jayarajan had vehemently denied the accusations and speculations that the CPI(M) had ordered an internal enquiry against him.)
Mr. Govindan said the CPI(M)‘s anti-corruption purge was also reflected in the government’s attempts to weed out corruption in the administration.
He alleged that the Congress agitation against the special security cess on petrol and diesel retailed in the State lacked popular support. The Congress has nothing to state about the Centre’s ₹20-cess on fuel. The levy went into a separate head of account, and the States got no share of the revenue, he said.
The public knew the government was hard-pressed to levy the special cess to mobilise funds to pay social welfare pensions that succour nearly 60 lakh people in the State. The Congress’ agitation lacked numbers. Hence, it has deployed “suicide squads” of lone wolves to throw themselves in front of Mr. Vijayan’s motorcade. The police were duty-bound to save their lives, he said.
Mr. Govindan reiterated the accusation that the Jamaat-e-Islami (HIND), UDF and RSS were in cahoots with each other against the LDF in the State. Later, at a public meeting at Pinarayi in Kannur, Mr. Govindan reeled off government initiatives to transform Kerala into a modern welfare State and knowledge economy.
