Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullappally Ramachandran on Friday held Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan personally responsible for the controversial incarceration of two Muslim youth on Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charges.
He accused Mr. Vijayan of being instrumental in transferring the case against Alan Shuhaib, 21, and Thaha Fasal, 19, to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The State police had arrested them in November on the charge of having Maoist links.
Mr. Ramachandran said the Chief Minister had behaved cruelly to the students who hailed from staunch CPI(M) families. The youth were themselves CPI(M) members. Mr. Vijayan's decision to sacrifice the youngsters on the altar of the draconian law flew in the face of the CPI(M)'s opposition to UAPA, he said.
The plight of the youngsters reflected Mr. Vijayan’s cosiness with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership. Mr. Vijayan had strikingly refrained from criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah despite the nationwide anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests, he said.
The arrest of the youth had ignited a sharp debate about the misuse of UAPA. The controversy saw the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition and the Communist Party of India (CPI), a principal constituent of the ruling LDF, on the same page and the CPI(M) on the opposite side of the political wrangle.
The CPI(M) also appeared divided on the issue. Several top CPI(M) leaders criticised the decision of the police to slap UAPA on two "impressionable" youth. However, Mr. Vijayan justified the police and said the youth were hardened Maoists.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala had slammed Mr. Vijayan for washing his hands of the future of the youth and equated him with Pontious Pilate who tried and crucified Christ.
He said the BJP's mouthpiece in Kerala, Janmabhoomi, had subsequently published an edit page article praising Mr. Vijayan's resoluteness for handing over the case to the NIA.
The CPI(M) secretariat had slammed the Centre for transferring the case to the NIA arbitrarily. The party's reaction came soon after Sabitha Madathil, mother of Alan Shuhaib, said she felt hurt when Mr. Vijayan dismissed her son as a "Maoist".
