‘Sudhakaran’s life is CPM’s gift to him’

Idukki/Kozhikode: CPMIdukki district secretary CV Varghese triggered a row after he said that KPCC president K Sudhakaran owed his life to CPM, in a protest march speech at Cheruthoni in Idukki on Tuesday.
The video of Varghese’s speech went viral on social media. In the video, Varghese said, “Sudhakaran should realize CPM’s strength. Congress workers are always saying that they have done something big in Kannur.But the Congress workers in Idukki should realize that the life of Sudhakaran, a beggar, is alms given by CPM. Sudhakaran’s life is CPM’s favour. We have no intention to kill a wretched creature.” The speech was made in the presence of former power minister and Udumbanchola MLA MM Mani.
Varghese made his speech in reply to Sudhakaran’s statements against SFI activist Dheeraj Rajendran’s murder case. Rajendran, a SFI activist and a seventh-semester BTech student at Idukki Government Engineering College, was stabbed to death in a clash during the college union elections on January 10.
At a meeting on Saturday at Cheruthoni, Sudhakaran had justified Nikhil Paily, the first accused in Dheeraj murder case. Sudhakaran said that Paily, a Youth Congress activist, had not stabbed Rajendran. “Those in jail in connection with Dheeraj’s murder are innocent. There were no witnesses to the incident and the truth should come,” said Sudhakaran.
Varghese’s outburst is a reminder of MM Mani’s speech at Manakkad where he listed out several murders of political opponents in the district. In a public meeting at Thodupuzha on May 21, 2012, he made the infamous “one..two..three” speech which had triggered a controversy. “Party has always killed those against it. In Santhanpara, we prepared a list of 13 people and shot one, beat up one, and stabbed one to death. We also killed one in Peermade too, Mani had said.
After the speech, Mani had lost his CPM Idukki district secretary post. The speech also took forward the Anchery Baby murder case, and Mani was arrested and remanded for 44 days in the case.
CPM leader speaking like a street goonda: Oppn leader
Lashing out at Varghese for his provocative statement, opposition leader VD Satheesan said that the CPM leader was speaking like a street goonda and demanded that a case be registered against him.
Speaking to media persons in Wayanad on Wednesday, Satheesan said that CPM leaders are acting with arrogance in the belief that the lives of others were in their hands. Satheesan also demanded that a probe should be launched to check whether the CPM leader had any role in the recent murder of the SFI activist in Idukki.
“It was this leader who had barred another SFI activist who, after the murder, had tried to reveal the actual incidents that took place there. The district secretary knows a lot of secrets about the murder and the police should question him,” said Satheesan.
“These threats won’t work with the Congress in Kerala. A case should be registered against the CPM leader for making statements which could incite major conflicts. We won’t allow anyone to put even a speck of soil on Sudhakaran,” Satheesan added.
Terming the statement as yet another instance of goonda politics, Satheesan alleged that such CPM leaders were protecting the goonda and drug gangs in each district.
Referring to Varghese’s remarks that Sudhakaran was a ‘wretched creature’, Satheesan said that the term was contributed to Malayalam lingo by Pinarayi Vijayan who had used it against the Thamarassery bishop. It is the party’s top leaders who motivate the lower-level leaders to issue such threats, he said.
Sudhakaran snubs comment
Meanwhile, Sudhakaran said that the statement was worthless talk by a mindless politician and that he was not attaching much importance to it.