Block Ministers' entry into Secretariat: Karunakaran

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 6. The senior Congress(I) leader, Mr K Karunakaran, has called upon the UDF leadership and its sympathisers to block the Ministers' entry into the Secretariat for failing to bring a lasting solution to the political violence in Kannur.

"Is there a Government here? What is the point in Ministers sitting in the Secretariat when they can't prevent the political murders and violence in the district?" Mr Karunakaran asked.

Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Karunakaran said the issue in Kannur was basically political. The violence was being perpetrated with the knowledge of BJP and CPI(M) leaders. "Things have come to such a pass that targets are fixed by the BJP and CPI(M) workers. And political murders are carried out as per the targets. The leaders call for peace initiative, even while permitting their rank and file to carry on with their violent political activities. It is high time all political parties pondered over the serious situation in Kannur. The politics there is more brutal than what had happened when the Naxalite movement was very active. Something drastic has to be done. It is not possible to remain as mere spectators," he said and added that he would take the initiative to discuss the next step with his colleagues in the UDF.

He vehemently criticised the Chief Minister, Mr E K Nayanar, for embarking on a foreign tour when tension was mounting in Kannur. He alleged that the Chief Minister was trying to escape from the situation by handing over the baton to his colleague, Mr T K Ramakrishnan. "To state that the police force and the people would handle the situation there is nothing but an open invitation to anarchy," he remarked.

Justifying the Leader of the Opposition, Mr A K Antony's demand for the deployment of the Army in Kannur, Mr Karunakaran said the onus was on the State Government to take such a step. "Usually, the Army is deployed only during a communal conflagration. The problem in Kannur is political. It is a fight between the CPI(M) and the BJP. He said the deployment of Army was not the final solution. Political parties desiring peace should be prepared to sort the issue out through negotiations," he said.

Mr. Karunakaran said the deployment of reserve police could also be considered if things appear to be going out of hand. Deploying Army was not an easy thing. There were several formalities for that. The Director General of Police should take a decision on this, he said.

Mr. Karunakaran recalled that the Army was deployed in a matter of hours when communal clashes broke out in Chala in Thiruvananthapuram (in 1982). He said there was no substance in the argument that he too had left the State during his tenure as Chief Minister or Minister when communal clashes broke out. There was one occasion in the 1970s when he accompanied the body of the scientist, Homi Bhaba, from here to Ahmedabad when communal riots broke out in some areas in Malabar. He was the Home Minister at that time and had accompanied the body as per the directions of the Chief Minister, Mr Achutha Menon, he said.

Mr. Karunakaran said Mr Nayanar was bent on going on his foreign tour as he was sure his ailment could not be treated after three months, when his term expires. Asked whether the political violence in Kannur was the result of the LDF being in power, he readily agreed to the remark. "Yes, the problem is that the LDF is in power. They have lost the control of the administration. That is why the policemen are running away during the attacks," he quipped.

Asked for his reaction to the charge that presspersons were in the payrolls of the CIA and that Congressmen were recipients of funds from the American intelligence agencies, Mr Karunakaran disdainfully said: "They (the CPI-M) are in power. Let them institute an inquiry if they want. They were themselves the butt of allegations about being on the payrolls of foreign agencies."

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Oppn. making political capital out of violence: CM
Next     : Hartal partial in city