BJP hartal today to protest police, DYFI excesses

The BJP called for a dawn to dusk hartal in Thiruvananthapuram in protest against the the attack unleashed by the police and the DYFI on Yuvamorcha workers.
 
 

 
BJP State president PK Krishnadas, in a hurriedly convened Press conference, said that the police and the CPM goons were trying to create a violent situation in Thiruvananthapuram and charged the CPM State leadership of hatching a conspiracy in this. The State BJP president said that the BJP was a political party which did not believe in violence.
 

 
It warned the CPM that it could not be brought to submission by using force. He said that the party would conduct a hartal in Thiruvananthapuram from morning till evening and protest marches throughout the State against this.
 

 
Krishnadas said that the party would not remain mute spectators to the terror and goonda raj unleashed by the CPM and the police.
 

 
BJP district president Sivankutty was admitted to the medical college hospital with serious head injuries after police beat him mercilessly from behind.
 

 
The issue started in the morning when there were minor scuffles while two marches – one of the Yuvamorcha and the other conducted by the pro-CPM body NGO union came opposite to each other. There were provocative sloganeering from the NGO union march and in the midst of the scuffle there was heavy pelting of stones from a building near the Secretariat towards the Yuvamorcha march.
 

 
Then all hell broke loose and the police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowd. The senior leaders of the BJP and Yuvamorcha reached the spot and tried to pacify the crowds.
 

 
The situation reached normalcy and the Yuvamorcha workers continued with their sit in dharna in protest against the Assistant Grade postings to Kerala University and to remove the controversial portions from the seventh standard text books.
 

 
At around 3 pm a group of DYFI men came in protest to the scuffle between the NGO union and the Yuvamorcha workers and there was heavy stone pelting from the DYFI side towards the Yuvmorcha pandal.
 

 
The police was not taking any action at the DYFI march or was not taking any steps to disperse the stone pelting DYFI activists and instead threw tear gas shells and water cannon towards the Yuvamorcha workers. The provoked Yuvamorcha workers reiterated and there was heavy stones pelting from either side.
 

 
In the meantime, BJP district president Sivankutty and the district general secretary Karamana Jayan and a few other party workers and leaders were talking to the policemen on the unilateral police action towards the Yuvamorcha activists when a policeman hit the BJP district president on the head from behind. In the melee that followed BJP district general secretary Karamana Jayan was also injured and both the leaders were admitted in the hospital.
 

 
The BJP district president received multiple injuries on his head and the BJP State president PK Krishnadas started a sit in dharna in the middle of the road before the Secretariat and called upon city Police Commissioner Ravada Chandrashekar to reach the spot.
 

 
The BJP leaders were seen shouting provocative slogans against the State Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and accusing him of conspiring with the police to attack the BJP leaders.
 

 
Following the attack on the BJP district president protest marches and sloganeering were taking place in different parts of the district and scores of Yuvamorcha, BJP and RSS activists were seen marching towards the Secretariat shouting provocative slogans.
 

 
The situation in Thiruvananthapuram and adjoining areas is tense and with the announcement of the hartal there could be more trouble in other parts of the city.
 

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