For the fourth day in a row, the youth wings of various political outfits continued their mass agitations in various parts of the state demanding the resignation of higher education minister K T Jaleel. In Kannur, BJP's youth outfit Yuva Morcha took out a march to industries minister's E P Jayarajn's house in Pappinessery demanding that he step down for attempting to destroy evidence of his son's involvement in gold smuggling.
The marches turned violent in many places. The Youth Congress march in front of Secretariat demanding Jaleel's ouster turned violent with the police hurling grenades, firing tear gas shells and bludgeoning protesters with batons. Youth Congress president Shafi Parambil and vice president K Sabrinathan, both MLAs, were reportedly injured in the lathi charge.
Yuva Morcha and Social Democrtic Prty of India (SDPI) followers also took out marches to the Secretariat on Tuesday. The SDPI activists burnt Jaleel in effigy in front of the Secretariat. In both the cases, the police had to exert force.
The marches taken out by BJP's youth outfit Yuva Morcha and another sister outfit, Mahila Morcha, in Kollam also caused the police to employ high-speed water cannons.
The march that Yuva Morcha took to the Palakkad Collectorate, too, culminated in the police using force to keep the agitators in control. Mahila Morcha took out a march in Ernakulam, to Kanayannoor taluk office. When women activists attempted to push down the police barricade, water cannon was used to push them back.
Muslim Students Federation, the student wing of Indian Union Muslim League, took out a march to Alappuzha Collectorate. Protest marches were held before Wayanad Collectorate also on the day.
On September 14, while talking to the media, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the opposition was taking street protests to crude and dangerous levels. He said a car was pushed before the convoy of K T Jaleel near Paripally junction in Kollam. "When the convoy slowed down, Yuva Morcha protesters jumped in front of the vehicle. Such a dangerous method of putting a car across the national highway cannot be called a protest," he said.
Vijayan also said the Congress was resorting to obscenities and perverse actions to take on Kunnthur MLA Kovoor Kunjumon.
However, when he was asked about a CPM worker throwing a stone at Chief Minister Oommen Chandy during the UDF tenure, he swatted aside the question. "We need to think about things that are happening at the moment," he said.
