Protest in Delhi, not a meeting, clarifies CPI-M Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPI-M's Kerala state secretary M.V. Govindan on Friday clarified that the February 8 event at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his entire cabinet besides law makers is not a meeting, but a protest against the Centre's "wrong attitude" towards the state.

Vijayan and his team from Kerala will march from the Kerala House to Jantar Mantar and stage a sit in protest.

Govindan was peeved after the media here reported that the protest that was earlier announced has been changed to a meeting. What more hurt the CPI-M the most was when the Congress-led opposition took pot shots against Vijayan and his cabinet that they changed from protests to meeting because they are scared of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The media made this assessment based on the letter that Vijayan had written to his counterparts in Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Odisha, Punjab, and Delhi besides former Chief Ministers Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah that it was a meeting against the dilution of federal principles by the Modi government.

"It’s not a meeting but it’s a protest," Govindan told the media, adding that when the protest will be staged in Delhi, all across Kerala, Left Front activists will stage protests expressing solidarity with the Delhi protesters.

Of late, numerous state ministers and even Vijayan have slammed the Centre for its "anti-Kerala attitude", which is going to be the highlight of the Delhi show.