KANNUR: CPM central committee member E P Jayarajan endorsed the public funding campaign for providing legal aid for the ‘innocent’ party workers involved in the Periya murder case.
“To save the innocent party comrades in the Periya case, money will be collected from the people to run the case in court. We don’t need the permission of Congress to begin such an initiative. We will move to court to fight for justice and to burst the lies propagated by CBI against innocent party workers. People are voluntarily paying money for this. Neither the people nor the party should seek the Congress's opinion. The statements made by the media on behalf of the Congress and right-wing reactionary forces are due to the rampant anti-communism now existing in the state.” said E P Jayarajan.
The public funding is done under the guise of Special Fund. The Kasaragod district committee has suggested that the party members pay Rs 500 each and those employed should pay one day's salary. It is proposed to transfer the money to the area committees by the 20th of this month. CPM has more than 28000 members in the district. Apart from them, they also have people working in party-controlled cooperatives.
The Kannur district committee gave a grand welcome to the four accused CPM leaders, including former Uduma MLA KV Kunhiraman, who were released after the High Court ordered a stay. Leaders like Kannur district secretary MV Jayarajan, senior leader P Jayarajan, state committee member Satish Chandran and many leaders joined other CPM leaders to roll out a rousing welcome for the four leaders.
The division bench comprising Justice PB Suresh Kumar and Justice Jobin Sebastian stayed the punishment after considering the appeal filed by the defendants seeking cancellation of the sentence.