People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 36
September 09, 2012
|
Vol. XXXVI
No. 36 September 09, 2012 |
KERALA NEWSLETTER N It was
the first case in Kerala of foisting a case against a
scribe on the basis of a
news story. Such an incident was not heard of even in the
dark days of Emergency. It
is to be noted that in
regard to the Chadrasekharan murder investigation, a
news story written by Mohandas and published as the lead
story in Deshabhimani,
thoroughly exposed the
details of the phone calls made by Josy Cherian, the DSP
of the special
investigation team (SIT), to the mobile phones of
journalists who were
extensively covering the developments of the case. This
hot expose proved the CPI(M)’s
argument that the SIT and certain journalists had a
tacit understanding about planting
stories against the CPI(M) in regard to the murder. Deshabhimani chief editor V V
Dakshinamurthi and general manager E P Jayarajan have
condemned the government's
move. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists has also
criticised it as a move
against press freedom. EMERGING KERALA OR EMERGING CORRUPTION? The
resistance against the
UDF government’s much publicised Emerging Kerala project
is spreading. Close on
the heels of the CPI(M) led opposition, green activists
and a section of UDF
legislators too have started criticizing this dream
project the government. The
opposition LDF has
already registered its protest against the programme which
will be inaugurated
by the prime minister in Though
the chief minister
Oommen Chandi, the mastermind behind the investors meet,
refuted the allegation
and made it clear that the government would press ahead
with the event, the
revolt made by a section of legislators justified the
stand of the LDF. LDF
convener Vaikom Vishwan said the government should make it
sure that this
venture remained corruption free and transparent. According
to Chandy, it is not a
mere exercise to lure investments but a large venture to
obtain ideas, concepts
and strategies to take Kerala forward. Opposition
leader V S
Achuthanandan said that LDF will not participate in this
programme as did not promise
to be corruption free. Scams like those in the 2G spectrum
case and coal
allocations are likely to get repeated in Kerala, he
added. In
the meanwhile, noted
poet and environment activist Sugathakumari, also voiced
concern over the
government’s greed to loot the natural resources. She said
the people of Kerala
would not allow the government to hand over forest, river,
watershed area and
other natural resources to big business groups in the name
of development. Recent
reports show that a
Edu-Health city project costing Rs 2,266 crore is going to
be launched in
Panakkad where the headquarters of the Muslim League are
situated. A plot of
183 acre has been earmarked for this purpose under the
Emerging Kerala project.
The excessive interest of Muslim League leaders in this
move has already been evident. On
the other hand, six
MLAs from the UDF have publicly voiced their protest
against the Emerging
Kerala project through a blog named ‘Green Thoughts
Kerala.’ V D Satheeshan, T
N Prathapan, Hibi Eden, V T Balram (all from Congress), K
M Shaji (Muslim
League) and Sreyams Kumar (Socialist Janatha) jointly
warned the government
that the public space should not be given to business
tycoons. These
legislators claim that they are practising green politics.
They also said the
thrust should be on the public sector units instead of
seeking to mollycoddle
the private investors. P
JAYARAJAN GETS
BAIL The
CPI(M)’s Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan, who was
imprisoned on a
fabricated murder charge in connection with the death of
Shukkur, a Muslim
League worker, got bail on August 27, 2012. While
granting him the bail, the High Court bench severely
criticised the prosecution
and turned down its demand to prevent the entry of
Jayrajan in Kannur district. In
Kannur, Jayarajan was given a warm reception in the
Central Jail premises.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Central
Committee member K K
Shailaja, James Mathew (MLA) and K K Ragesh were also
present at the reception. Justice
Babu
P Mathew also rejected the plea of T Asaf Ali, the
director of prosecution,
to extend the remand of Jayrajan. Asaf Ali had said that
Jayarajan’s presence
in Kannur would hamper the investigation. The court
observed that this demand could
not be entertained as P Jayarajan was the district
secretary of a responsible
political party. The court did not ask him to deposit his
passport either, as
he has deep-rooted relations with the people. The
court also asked how Jayarajan could be responsible for an
incident that took
place after his arrest, and how he could give instructions
to his party workers
while he was in jail. The court granted him the bail as
the investigation had
been completed and the chargesheet submitted. Jayrajan
was
arrested on August 1 after
he
was summoned to the Kannur town CI office, and charged
under Section 118 IPC (concealing
the design of murder). His arrest caused widespread
protest all over Kerala. ANOTHER TOWERING LIE COLLAPSES The
misuse of government
machinery and media is in full swing in the Oommen Chandi
regime in Kerala. The
endeavour of the police force, which has turned to be a
junior ally of United
Democratic Front, and the right wing media that is
embedded to their political
bosses, is to defame the CPI(M) at any cost. These
synergised efforts of the police
and media reached a height when CPI(M) district secretary
P Jayarajan and T V
Rajesh (MLA) were implicated in the Shukkur murder case. One
may recall that Shukkur,
a Muslim League worker, was found dead in Ariyil near
Thalipparamb in Kannur, while
P Jayrajan and Rajesh were on a visit of the area. The
police started its investigation
when the campaign was in full swing in connection with the
byelection in
Piravam constituency. The cooked-up news stories that
appeared in major newspapers
like Malayala
Manorama and Mathrubhumi
quoted the investigation
team to allege that it was a kangaroo CPI(M) court that
had meted out capital
punishment to Shukkur. These stories also said the two
CPI(M) leaders were
aware of the plan of murder and had sent Shukkur’s
pictures to the culprits
through MMS. This venomous propaganda vitiated the whole
electoral campaign in Piravam. Chief
minister Oommen
Chandi and his colleagues launched an all-out attack on
the CPI(M) during the
campaign on the basis of these stories. As soon as the
news of
Chandrashekharan’s murder broke out, the media did not
take time to link the
two murders in order to tarnish the image of the CPI(M)
and of Jayarajn,
secretary of its Kannur district committee. But
the chargesheet
submitted by the investigation team in the Judicial
Magistrate’s court at
Kannur on August 23, literally demolished this tower of
lies. There was no
mention of a kangaroo court or of MMS in the 450-page
chargesheet. Though it
made 33 persons accused culprits in the case, it failed to
put forward any solid
evidence. This is yet another proof of the lies and
manipulations the Congress
led government has been resorting to in order to attack
the CPI(M). It is worth
noting that the chargesheet in the Chandrashekharan murder
case too had failed
to establish the previous lies.
Case Foisted
Against Deshabhimani Bureau Chief
SHOWING its real face of
hostility towards the Left
media, the UDF government of Kerala foisted on September
5 a police case
against K M Mohandas, Thiruvananthapuram bureau chief
and special correspondent
of Deshabhimani
daily, on the basis
of a news story. This also exposes the collusion between
the right wing media
in the state and the police, more so in regard to
investigation of the T P
Chandrashekharan murder case. The police have issued the
summons to Mohandas, a
former member of the SFI’s Central Secretariat, asking
him to present himself
before the Crime Department DSP in Vadakara.
