How ED raids against Vijayan became CPI(M)’s first statewide rallying point after Kerala defeat
Thiruvananthapuram: The Enforcement Directorate’s raids Wednesday on multiple properties linked to former Kerala chief minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with a money-laundering case against his daughter sparked a major show of strength by the CPI(M), with party workers taking to the streets across the state, and in the national capital.
While party leaders claimed the raids were politically motivated and aimed at “destroying” the Left Front, some members allegedly attacked an ED vehicle in Thiruvananthapuram.
In his first comments after the raids concluded, Vijayan said the response to these searches show the “sentiments of our party comrades” when the “enemies” of the party tried to “bury or destroy us”.
The ED searches targeted Vijayan’s house in Kannur, his rented house in Thiruvananthapuram, the residence of his daughter Veena Vijayan, her husband and former Tourism Minister PA Muhammad Riyas’s house in Kozhikode, as well as an office of the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL).
The PMLA case is linked to alleged fraud involving Kochi-based CMRL and Exalogic Solutions, a now-defunct IT firm owned by Veena Vijayan.
The searches were conducted a day after the Kerala High court judge Justice TR Ravi refused to quash the probe into the case.
According to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, Veena and her firm allegedly received illegal payments worth Rs 2.7 crore from CMRL without rendering any services, an allegation she has denied.
The case first came to light in 2019 following an Income Tax Department search on CMRL’s premises.
However, Wednesday’s search triggered the CPIM’s first statewide protest since it lost power in the state to the Congress in the Assembly polls last month. The CPI(M) also used the raids to blunt the Congress’s allegations of a CPIM-BJP deal.
In the run-up to the Assembly polls, the Congress had repeatedly alleged a deal between the CPI(M) and BJP. At an event in Kerala in April this year, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had questioned why the ED had not acted against Vijayan while going against every opposition party leader.
Vijayan had hit back, saying Rahul lacked political maturity.
Also Read: ED raids ex-CM Vijayan, daughter Veena as Kerala HC lifts stay on money-laundering probe into her firm
The protest
Soon after the searches began Wednesday, hundreds of CPI(M) workers started arriving at Vijayan’s house in Kannur, demonstrating a sit-in. Soon, the protest escalated in other areas in the state.
The protest in state capital Thiruvananthapuram was joined by party state secretary MV Govindan who said the searches were a consecrated attack on Vijayan as well as the CPIM as a whole.
Govindan said Vijayan had no connection to the case and can’t be targeted only because he is Veena’s father.
“There is no need to include Pinarayi Vijayan in this case. It’s just politically motivated. We will oppose this politically,” Govindan said.
Protests were also held in the national capital by CPIM general secretary MA Baby. Baby was detained along with senior leaders Brinda Karat, Ashok Dhawale and Mariam Dhawale .
Vijayan addressed his party workers soon after the searches concluded, and said the ED had been wanting to search his house for a long time.
He also trained his guns at the Congress, saying that the party is only shows concerns when its leaders are targeted.
In an apparent attack on Rahul Gandhi, he said some people must have become happy because of the searches against him.
“No one should be under the illusion that this search will weaken us. What has been evident is the sentiment of our party comrades, especially at every stage when the enemies of the party tried to bury or destroy us. What the comrades have once again made clear today is that there has been no decline or wavering in that support,” Vijayan said.
Earlier in Kannur, CPI(M) district secretary K. K. Ragesh said the searches were part of a larger attempt by the Narendra Modi-led BJP government against the Left Front.
Ragesh said it was the continuation of a strategic scheme to weaken the Left Front, implemented with Congress’s support. He added that Congress’s continued allegation of a CPI(M)-BJP deal was part of it.
“For a long time, the ED has been trying to prepare its usual script against opposition parties to destroy CPI(M)’s tallest leader, Pinarayi Vijayan, using his family.
“In reality, Vijayan and his family are being targeted in a false case by the BJP government. This didn’t happen only in Kerala; we saw how the ED was used to target Arvind Kejriwal. Later, the Supreme Court said it was a false case. Now they are using the ED to target CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan. It’s to destroy the Left Front,” Ragesh said in Kannur.
Meanwhile, Kerala Home Minister and Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said the state police or the home department had no prior information regarding searches.
He also rejected CPI(M) allegations that the Congress supported the BJP in these raids. “People know the truth, and they know what the Congress is, the BJP is and the CPI-M is. They (CPIM and the BJP) had the biggest understanding. Now, they should explain how it shattered,” Chennithala said.
The CPIM, however, got support from former Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin.
In a statement, he said the searches expose the “hollowness” of the Congress’s allegations. Who said Pinarayi Vijayan had “not yet been targeted by the BJP”, he asked.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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