Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan hits out at MP police; alleges inaction against RSS protesters

Kochi: A day after he was advised by Madhya Pradesh Police not to attend an event in Bhopal in view of Sangh Parivar protest, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today hit out at the BJP-ruled state saying police did not take action against the protesters as it was organised by RSS. Vijayan, who is a senior member of the CPI(M) politburo, said the experience he underwent in Bhopal is a reflection of the culture of the Sangh Parivar and the government supported by them. “It (protest) was organised by the RSS. When a chief minister of a state is going to attend a programme, a protest is organised without any reasons. And police is not taking any action as the protest is being organised by the RSS, then asking the chief minister not to attend the function. “We should see a cultural issue in it,” Vijayan told reporters here. CPI(M) had alleged the chief minister was supposed to attend a felicitation programme organised by Kerala Samaj in Bhopal yesterday but when he was about to leave for attending it, Madhya Pradesh Police told him not to go there as RSS and other organisations were protesting against it. [caption id=“attachment_3151164” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo. PTI[/caption] Following the protest, the programme was cancelled and the Kerala Chief Minister went back. Leaders of some Hindu outfits had organised a protest before the BSSS college gate, where Pinarayi was supposed to be felicitated in the evening. Police later took nearly 20 protesters into custody from the spot. Bhopal Malyali Community Association Programme Convenor O D Joseph had said the programme was organised without the presence of Vijayan, whose scheduled visit to the venue was “cancelled due to security reasons”. DIG of Bhopal Raman Singh Sikarwar had clarified that in view of the protest by Hindu outfits, police requested the Kerala Chief Minister to delay his visit to the venue for security reasons. “We have never said that we won’t provide security to him. We were ready to take him to the venue but in order to avoid unpleasant situation, we had just asked him to delay the visit,” he had said on Saturday. “However, Vijayan decided not to visit the venue and therefore it was cancelled,” he had claimed.