Kerala House adjourned amid protests over Rahul office attack

The maiden day of the fifth session of Kerala assembly was adjourned on Monday amid protests by the Congress-led opposition over the attack on party leader Rahul Gandhi’s office in Wayanad even as both treasury and opposition members rushed to the well.

When the House assembled after one-hour, Congress member T Siddique, who represented Kalpetta in Wayanad, gave a notice for the adjournment motion and Speaker M B Rajesh said he will admit it. But exchanges between treasury and opposition members continued for some time and later opposition members stormed out of the House. Many opposition legislators wore black shirts in protest and carried photographs of the vandalised office of the Wayanad MP.

Gandhi’s office in Kalpetta was allegedly attacked by a group from Students Federation of India (SFI) and CPI(M) youth wing members on Friday. Later, police arrested 26 workers of the SFI, including girls.

Reacting to the incident, Kerala chief minister (CM) Pinarayi Vijayan said that the behaviour of the opposition members was quite unheard of in the legislative history of the House. He said the Speaker was ready to take up the adjournment motion but members boycotted the House without any reason.

“They junked the debate deliberately. They wanted to avoid a reply at any cost and never wanted to clear the air. It is nothing but disruptive tactic of the Congress and they want to vitiate peaceful atmosphere,” Vijayan said. He said the party general secretary Sitaram Yechury had condemned the attack and the government also took strong action but the Congress wanted to vitiate the atmosphere further.

He also raised a serious allegation against Congress workers saying it was not SFI workers who pulled down the photo of Mahathma Gandhi at the MP’s office during attack. “Many channels beamed the picture of the office after the attack and Gandhi’s photo was intact in those visuals. It happened after Congressmen barged into office. What Godse did literally, the Congress has done symbolically,” he said. But opposition leader V D Satheesan termed the new claim “a studded lie.”

“Humiliated, he did not have anything else to say. So the CM is coming out with new theories to justify the dastardly attack on the office. Mahathma Gandhi’s statue was decapitated in Payyanur two weeks ago at the Congress office during the CPI(M) protest and police are yet to take action,” he said, adding the CM was searching for excuses to justify the attack. The Congress has decided to keep the issue alive till Gandhi’s visit to Wayanad on June 30.

The party is planning a big reception for Rahul Gandhi, who will tour the constituency extensively for three days, said party leaders.