Kerala LoP Satheesan dismisses CPM’s claim of attack on Kerala health minister by KSU activists as ‘drama’

Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala assembly V D Satheesan on Thursday dismissed the allegation that KSU activists attacked state Health Minister Veena George at Kannur railway station on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media in Alappuzha, Satheesan said CPM leaders, including the Chief Minister, are spreading falsehoods and unleashing widespread violence in the state.

Advertisement

He said the claim that the minister was assaulted at the Kannur railway station was nothing more than a drama. He added that the visuals from the railway station show that the KSU activists “did not come close to the Minister” . The Railway Police investigation found no evidence of any attack by KSU workers on the Minister, he added.

“The media, police, and the Railway Police are aware that not even one of the KSU activists came anywhere near Veena George, and all of them were immediately surrounded and removed from the area by the police present there,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Railway Security Force said that the video footage of Health Minister Veena George being attacked by KSU activists at Kannur railway station was not clear. An inspection conducted following the incident found that there was no footage of the minister being attacked. The police had requested the RPF for footage in connection with the case. It was clear during the inspection that there was no such footage

The CPM had alleged that five activists of KSU, the student wing of the Congress, attacked Veena on Wednesday at Kannur railway station. The KSU activists, who were protesting frequent incidents of alleged medical negligence in government hospitals in the state, waving black flags, were arrested and remanded to judicial custody.

Meanwhile, KSU state president Aloysius Xavier said it was the gunman’s hand that hit the Health Minister’s body during the protest. The KSU activists did not even come close to the Minister, they were only showing black flags from a distance. Despite the release of CCTV footage, CPM leaders are repeating lies like the Goebbelsian tactic. He also promised a gold medal of eight grams for those who provide the footage that shows KSU workers attacking Veena George.

Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan also said that the KSU workers did not even come near the minister. He demanded that experts from AIIMS should examine George, who is undergoing treatment at Pariyaram Medical college hospital. The Pariyaram Medical College, where the minister is currently staying, is the CPM party office, he alleged.

Meanwhile, CPM state secretary M V Govindan said that the visuals clearly showed KSU workers lurking at the railway station, waylaying Veena George as she proceeded to the platform to board a train to Thiruvananthapuram, and then ambushing her.