Thiruvananthapuram:
In a major political escalation, three United Democratic Front (UDF) MLAs—Roji M. John, M. Vincent, and Sanish Kumar—were suspended from the Kerala Legislative Assembly shortly after the day’s proceedings were abruptly terminated, a process Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan has termed a “guillotine.”
Satheesan vehemently rejected the grounds for the suspension, alleging it was a “conspiracy” orchestrated by the Speaker in collusion with the government. He asserted that the suspended members were innocent and had committed no fault.
”They have not committed any act of violence, nor have they disrupted Assembly proceedings like their counterparts in the CPM have done in the past. They did not attack the Speaker or climb onto the Speaker’s dais,” Satheesan said.
Excessive Force and Unprecedented Action
The Opposition Leader claimed that the deployment of the Watch and Ward staff was disproportionate, outnumbering the opposition members present. He stated that M. Vincent and Sanish Kumar sustained injuries after being caught amidst the excessive security personnel, despite the opposition not resorting to violence.
Satheesan accused the ruling front of deliberately instigating the conflict. “Yesterday, it was the Chief Minister and Minister Riyas who attempted to provoke the opposition and incite violence. Today, it was the Speaker’s turn to be the provocateur,” he charged.
The UDF leader further criticized the Speaker’s directive to seize and tear the opposition’s banner, calling it an unprecedented move in the state’s legislative history. “Many times, the CPM in Kerala has demonstrated in the Assembly with banners and placards. Yet, no Speaker during a UDF government’s tenure has ever directed that a banner be torn up,” he noted.
Protest to Go Statewide
Drawing a parallel between political repression at the national and state levels, Satheesan stated, “The situation is similar in Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram. When a voice is raised against violence, injustice, and corruption, there is an attempt to silence that voice.”
He warned that the attempt to stifle dissent would fail. “This voice will not be silenced; it is going to echo across all of Kerala,” he declared.
Terming the suspension of the three MLAs after the ‘guillotining’ of the session a fundamentally wrong decision, Satheesan announced the expansion of the protest outside the Assembly. He confirmed that a fierce statewide agitation would be launched, commencing from Pathanamthitta district.
