Satheesan, Vishnunadh, MPs from Kerala join protest

Even as the crackdown on the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest in Delhi continued for the second day on Tuesday, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, Tourism Minister P.C. Vishnunadh and MPs Dean Kuriakose and Kodikunnil Suresh joined the Congress protest outside the Prime Minister’s Lok Kalyan Marg residence.

Mr. Satheesan, in a Facebook post, said this was the time for the country to stand united. “The youth and students, who are the hope of the country, were brutally attacked in the national capital. In protest against this, a march has been organised to the Prime Minister’s residence. Kerala Chief Minister and MPs from Kerala are participating in this march along with Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar,” he said.

A delegation of Left MPs also undertook a solidarity march to Jantar Mantar in support of the students’ demands and against the alleged police brutality on CJP protesters. CPI MPs P. Sandosh Kumar, K. Subbarayan, and P.P. Suneer; CPI(M) MPs Amra Ram, John Brittas, K. Radhakrishnan, V. Sivadasan, A.A. Rahim, and R. Sachidanandam; and KC(M) MP Jose K. Mani expressed solidarity with the protesting students and condemned the alleged violence by the Delhi Police.

According to Mr. Kuriakose, the police brutally assaulted him inside the police vehicle. There were also reports that the MPs were taken away in police vans without being informed of where they were being taken.

Mr. Vishnunadh was allegedly dragged into a police vehicle by officers. Congress leaders alleged that the police ignored his repeated statements that he was a Minister.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee announced that the party would hold a Statewide protest on Wednesday evening in all district headquarters against the police excesses against the Minister and MPs from Kerala.

Condemning the police action, KPCC president Sunny Joseph said elected representatives had the right to protest raising public issues. Attempts to suppress them through force were unacceptable, he said.