Case Against Congress Workers For Protest Against Kerala Chief Minister

A case of attempt to murder has been registered against Youth Congress workers who raised slogans and protested against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on a flight.

The incident happened on Monday evening when the Chief Minister was travelling from Kannur to Trivandrum on a flight.

Two Youth Congress leaders in black shirts on board a private airline raised slogans in connection with the gold smuggling case against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who was also on the same flight on Monday.

A viral video shows a man pushing protesters on the flight to save Chief Minister Vijayan. Two Youth Congress leaders can be seen sitting in front of the steps of the plane where several passengers are seen coming out.

Valiyathura police have registered a case against Youth Congress workers who protested inside the flight against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday. The case has been registered under IPC sections 307, 332,334 and 120b. A case has also been charged for aircraft rules violation.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala, Dr V Sivadasan, wrote a letter to Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Arun Kumar alleging assault on Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inside a flight from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.

Dr V Sivadasan, in a letter dated June 13, said, "I would like to invite your attention to the heinous attempt to physically attack the Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan, posing a grave threat to his life and security in complete violation of Aircraft Security Rules and conventions, in the Indigo flight from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram on June 13, 2022."

Upper House MP Sivadasan further said the highly condemnable incident should be promptly investigated and stringent action should be taken against the offenders who have tried to assault the Chief Minister.

Youth Congress State vice-president and former MLA KS Sabarinathan also released a three-second video on social media in which the two workers of the organisation were seen raising slogans against the Chief Minister seeking his resignation and a man, who accompanied the Chief Minister, pushing them away.

The airport officials later detained the two youth leaders and handed them over to the airport police.

"Incident happened at around 5 pm when the two passengers raised anti-CM slogans while on board," an airport official had told ANI.

The incident was later reported to the aviation regulatory body of the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for investigation.

Reacting to the attempt to murder case, Leader of the Opposition in Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan, on Tuesday said that the chief minister was proving to be a "bigger dictator than Hitler, Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath."

"A case for attempting to murder has been registered against the Youth Congress workers for simply raising slogans in protest. On the flight yesterday, they just raised slogans and said 'protest, protest'. With this Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan is proving to be a bigger dictator than Hitler, Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath,'' Mr Satheesan alleged at a press conference here.

The LoP also questioned why no case was registered against LDF convenor EP Jayarajan who allegedly pushed the Youth Congress workers inside the aircraft.

"On what basis was the case for attempted murder filed? Police have not registered a case against EP Jayarajan, LDF Convenor who attacked the protestors inside the flight. There was no planning from Congress here. The workers protested against CM without the knowledge of the leaders," said Mr Satheesan.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)