Police stations in Kerala are turning into concentration camps, says Chennithala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said that he saw the visuals of police brutally towards Youth Congress constituency president V S Sujith in Kunnakulam, with great pain. This act, which no one with a conscience can accept, is a disgrace to the Kerala Police. It is inhumane to take a Youth Congress leader into custody for no reason, assault him so brutally on the road, in a van and at the police station, and causing damage in one ear. I had called Sujith. Sujith is getting married on September 17. I’ll try my best to attend the wedding.

It is sad that police stations in Kerala are turning into concentration camps. This cannot be accepted under any circumstances. The high-level efforts to protect the police officers leading such incidents are cruel. These officers should be terminated from service immediately. The chief minister should answer on this issue. Only by taking exemplary action will such incidents not be repeated in future,’ Chennithala clarified.

Pinarai govt’s double standards on Sabarimala issue
The chief minister should apologize to the believers for violating the tradition on the Sabarimala issue. Chennithala criticized the government's 'Global Ayyappa Sangamam' in Sabarimala for not doing so, saying that it is a political drama ahead of the elections. ‘The Pinarayi government paved the way for the entry of women by amending the affidavit given by the Oommen Chandy government. Through this, the chief minister of Kerala hurt the sentiments of the believers and turned Sabarimala into a riot. It was the chief minister who insisted on forcing women into Sabarimala. The chief minister should apologize to the people for this mistake. ‘Is the government ready to withdraw the amended affidavit?’ he asked.

Chennithala said the move to categorize devotees coming to Sabarimala as 'privileged class’ is unacceptable. ‘Regardless of caste and religion, everyone is the same before Ayyappa. There is no caste, religion or privilege there. That is the specialty of Sabarimala. The chief minister should also clarify whether the government is ready to withdraw the cases filed against thousands of devotees for holding a namajapa procession,’ demanded Chennithala.

The UDF government carried out the most development work in Sabarimala. The present government's stance is an election stunt. The people of Kerala will fully recognize this attempt to deceive and cheat the devotees, Chennithala added.

There was a case against me and others including Oommen Chandy for protesting against the entry of women. In the end, the Ranni court dismissed it.