Congress terms attack on MP Shafi Parambil a diversion from Sabarimala gold row

In a fierce escalation of Kerala’s political tempests, the Congress on Saturday, 11 October, launched a blistering attack on the ruling CPI(M) government, condemning the alleged police assault on party MP Shafi Parambil as a “desperate ploy” to deflect public outrage over the Sabarimala gold irregularities.

Top Congress leaders, including AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal, leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, and veterans Ramesh Chennithala, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, M.K. Raghavan, and Mullappally Ramachandran, united in outrage, denouncing what they termed a “brutal and premeditated” attack on a people’s representative.

Venugopal, addressing the media, described the incident as “an escape tactic of the CPI(M) to distract from the biggest loot in Kerala — the Sabarimala scandal.” Satheesan, in a scathing Facebook post, accused the ruling party of unleashing “criminals in CPI(M) and goondas in uniform” upon the Congress MP. “Such cowardly acts,” he declared, “will neither crush our resolve nor cloud the truth behind Sabarimala’s corruption.”

Chennithala questioned the police’s motives, demanding to know why officers allowed rival UDF and LDF rallies to converge at Perambra and why only Congress workers bore the brunt of police fury. “This was not law enforcement — it was orchestrated goondaism,” thundered Radhakrishnan, alleging that the assault was so severe “it seemed aimed at killing him.”

The flashpoint erupted on Friday evening when UDF and LDF rallies clashed at the Perambra bus stand. The Congress had called for a hartal to protest police action against its leaders and Kerala Students’ Union (KSU) activists during college union election violence at CKGM Government College. The confrontation spiralled, prompting a heavy-handed police response in which Parambil was injured and later underwent nasal surgery at a private hospital in Kozhikode.

The Congress staged statewide protests on Saturday, demanding swift disciplinary action against the police personnel involved.

In sharp contrast, education minister V. Sivankutty sought to downplay the incident, remarking that being beaten during protests was “nothing new” in Kerala’s political culture. “I myself have spent weeks in hospital after lathi charges,” he said, while assuring that those guilty in the Sabarimala irregularities “will not escape justice.”

Meanwhile, the police filed a sweeping case against 700 individuals, including MP Shafi Parambil, invoking multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for rioting, obstruction, and assault on officers. According to police, UDF workers had allegedly blocked public roads and pelted stones at personnel attempting to disperse them.

As the dust settles over Perambra, Kerala finds itself once again at the crossroads of politics and protest — a familiar battleground where power, faith, and fury collide under the shadow of Sabarimala’s gold.

With PTI inputs