THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Leader of the Opposition in the Keralam Assembly, Pinarayi Vijayan, on Tuesday accused the UDF government of using the police to suppress democratic protests, alleging that it was following the Sangh Parivar's fascist policies.
In a Facebook post, Vijayan referred to the alleged police brutality against protesting Students Federation of India (SFI) activists in Palakkad recently and the lathi charge against members of the CPI(M)'s student wing at a Kerala University hostel last month. He alleged that "police atrocities are rising day by day".
The Marxist veteran claimed the incidents showed the Home Department had failed in its duties.
He warned that if the government did not immediately rein in the police and ensure that the force acted in accordance with the law, the state would witness strong public protests.
The former CM claimed that SFI activists, including female students, were brutally assaulted in Palakkad recently by a police officer who was allegedly drunk.
Vijayan said the students were protesting against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged that the state government had sought to suppress their protest by adopting the Sangh Parivar's alleged tactics of using "lathis and drugs".
"Even though the students immediately brought the incident to the attention of the authorities, and the media aired footage of it, no action was taken. The police officer was quickly taken away from the spot by other officers in a police vehicle," he said, referring to the Palakkad incident.
The opposition leader contended that the government agreed to suspend the officer concerned only after the issue was strongly raised in the state Assembly.
"It is not good for any government to wait until the Opposition protests in the Assembly before taking action against wrongdoers," he said.
Vijayan further claimed that no action had been taken against the officers who allegedly attacked SFI activists at the university hostel on the night of September 30 and subsequently threatened students on social media.
He alleged that the UDF government had a responsibility to act against such personnel in the police force.
"The practice of deploying such criminal policemen to suppress people engaged in democratic protests is unacceptable," he said.