For the people no more? Puthuvypin reflects Left’s growing apathy towards popular agitations

Governments using brute force to quell agitations are nothing new in our country. But when the perpetrator is a Left government headed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), a party which had itself led umpteen numbers of such mass uprisings, it leaves the common man on the street confused and intrigued. 

The Police action at Puthuvypin in Kochi on Sunday, that left more than a dozen people injured, all local residents of the area who had been protesting against an upcoming LPG terminal of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) close to their homes, is the latest such episode of willfully using the men in uniform to literally beat down voices of dissent.  

Kerala's Left government seems to have made this a precedent and even in the face of tremendous criticism blowing in from all quarters the government and its Chief Minister had been conveniently looking the other way every time an issue unfolds. 

That in spite of VS Achuthananthan, who is currently on a cabinet post as the Chairman of the Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission, writing to the Chief Minister denouncing the police action and demanding the suspension of the erring officer, Pinarayi Vijayan seems to be in no mood to relent. 

Two moths ago under similar circumstances but for causes entirely different a protesting housewife by name Mahija and her family were brutally beaten up and dragged on the road right in front of the office of the Director General of Police in Thiruvananthapuram. 

Kerala's civil society was then too up in arms with the outcry reverberating from the streets here up to the Supreme Court of India, which while considering TP Senkumar's reinstatement case mocked at the then DGP Lokanath Behera and questioned the state Home department for his continuance as the state police chief. 

History repeated at Puthuvypin on Sunday as the police highhandedness once again severely dented the image of this government when it comes to dealing with protests of the common man. 

Civil rights activist say that this Left government which rode to power on a brute majority of the people has undoubtedly gone against the proclaimed Left policy of justice to all. 

“This is not inline with the declared policies of any left government. Does this government think that only recognised political parties can protest? Does it mean that if the common man comes on the street with a grievance, he would be dealt with brute force to silence him? This has been repeating over the last one year. Is this what the CPM stands for?," asks prominent civil rights activist CR Neelakandan 

That the words of Neelakandan and others like him are finding resonance inside coalition is also not good news for the LDF. 

The CPI, its partner in governance, had always been maintaining a balancing act whenever the Chief Minister and his police were found going overboard. But even for the CPI,  patience had been running thin for the past few months. 

“It is not the policy of the left government to unleash blood bath in the midst of people's agitations. The police action against residents of Puthuvypin including women, children and the elderly cannot be justified at any cost," CPI State Secretary Kanam Rajendran told media persons on Sunday. 

The CPI's mouth piece Janyugam in its editorial said - “the police action in Puthuvypin has tainted the trust of the people in the LDF.”

The issue at Puthuvypin 

The issue at Puthuvypin is clearly an attempt to bring an environmentally hazardous project amidst a thickly populated hamlet of fisher folk.  

An LPG storage facility perilously close to a hamlet where thousands of fisher folk have been living for generations is undoubtedly bound to raise huge concerns and protests. 

Environmentalists say that the proposed terminal which would come hardly 200 meters away from the sea will be a clear cut violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules. The first of the homes are also hardly 30 meters from the boundary wall of the proposed terminal. 

Hence the people of the area only have a genuine concern and fear with which the state government should have stood at all costs. 

Instead when the High Court of Kerala to which IOC had gone to seeking security for its construction site from protesting fisher folk, the government remained a silent approver. When the IOC told the Court that it had adhered to all the conditions of safety and security while picking the site for construction, the government remained mute. 

“We fail to understand how a democratically elected government can stand against the will of the people. We don't want anything from this government. The sea provides us with everything we want. Please leave us to live in safety by taking away this project from our midst. That's all," KS Murali, Convenor of the LPG Terminal Virudha Sammidhi told Asianet Newsable. 

On Friday the protesters marched to the High Court junction in Kochi after the orders of the court had disappointed the people. A team under the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) had intervened and tried to send the protestors away. In the melee that ensued, the cops lathi-charged. 

But it was not just the protestors but even innocent bystanders at the bus station and elsewhere who also took the brunt of the DCP Yatish Chandra, who went on a rampage beating up people with the lathi, the visuals of which had gone viral on social media, evoking a huge outcry. 

Although on Saturday things remained calm as the Prime Minister visited Kochi for the Metro inauguration, things were back to square one on Sunday when the IOC site resumed its construction. 

Protestors allege that since they had moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the IOC and as the case was to be heard on July 3 rd, the state government had given assurances that work would not commence at the site till the NGT expresses its opinion. But with the IOC going about its work as usual even on Sunday, the protestors gathered in front of it as police rushed in to give security cover to the IOC. 

All hell had broken lose by then as the 600-odd protestors, which included women and children in large numbers, were met with strong resistance from the police who had no inhibitions in wielding their lathi at will. 75 were left injured with a majority being women. 

“It is the same government which speaks at ever possible platform about safety to women and children who are doing this to us now. How they stay silent spectators when innocents are being beaten up on the road who are just raising a genuine voice for the right to life?," asks Magelin Peter, a social activist who works among the fisher folk. 

Every political party including the CPI is making a beeline to Puthuvypin which is now fast become a Frankenstein monster for the Left coalition which is already a rocking boat. 

Police allege 'terror conspiracy.'

The Police at the same time is saying that the ‘violent protest' in last few days had the blessings of some ‘terror outfits. The state Police Chief has also gone on record to say that some ‘terrorists' had infiltrated the protest and were trying to use the platform to pursue their vested interests, although he failed to elaborate or name the terror outfits involved in the operations. 

It is here that the argument of the police and the government falls flat. After all an almost similar angle was alleged after mishandling the protest led by Mahija, the mother of the allegedly murdered Jishnu Pranoy and his family in April. 

"I am 57 years old now. Till now I don't have a single case against me at the local police station, and I am the convener of this samara sammidhi. What terror angle are u talking about? We are just common fishermen who live this area," reiterates Murali. 

In Mahija's case, the home department had the clear intentions of meeting a popular protest with an iron hand and then to justify the stand taken and to magnify the errors of the protestors, the cops willfully brought a conspiracy angle to it. 

If getting activists Shajahan, Shajir Khan and his wife booked under relevant sections of the law was the game plan then, invoking a terror angle is the new way to quell the latest mutiny.  

"It is here that CPM should not forget what happened to them in Bengal after the Nandigram firing. It will not be a surprise if Kerala too sees a Nandigram if the attitude of the government towards the protest of the common man continues. Otherwise, how do you explain such actions by the police when a Left democratic government is in power?," reiterates Neelakandan. 

The protestors have meanwhile been called for talks with the Chief Minister on Wednesday. Though many have expressed their doubts about a successful outcome, the protestors are saying they would certainly put their best foot forward.