Kerala: SFI activists vandalise Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad office; CM Vijayan condemns incident

SFI activists vandalised Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s office in Wayanad, Kerala, on Friday. Here’s what we know about it:

A protest march of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the students wing of ruling CPI(M), against Gandhi on the day turned violent as a group of protestors allegedly barged into his office and trashed it. Police said the protest march contained around 100 activists.

“There were around 80-100 activists. As of now, eight of them are in custody. More police have been deployed,” police told PTI. A police official was reportedly injured in the stone pelting and lathi charge following the incident.

The student organisation protested alleging that Gandhi failed to intervene in the issue of creating buffer zones around forests in the hilly areas of Kerala .

Television channels aired visuals of a group of protestors creating ruckus inside the MP’s office. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan sharply reacted to the incident and said the attack showed lawlessness and “goondaism”.

#WATCH | Kerala: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's office in Wayanad vandalised.

Indian Youth Congress, in a tweet, alleges that "the goons held the flags of SFI" as they climbed the wall of Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad office and vandalised it. pic.twitter.com/GoCBdeHAwy

— ANI (@ANI) June 24, 2022

Political reaction:

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan  condemned the attack and assured stringent action against the culprits. He said everyone has the right to protest in a democratic manner but such demonstrations taking a violent turn was a wrong tendency. He tweeted:

Strongly condemn the offence on @RGWayanadOffice. In our country everyone has the right to air their opinions and protest democratically. However, that shouldn't result in excess. It is a wrong tendency. Strict action will be taken against the culprits.

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) June 24, 2022

Indian Youth Congress tweeted condemning the incident:

You can attack his office, but you can't shake the pillars of his thoughts.

If there's one man that fights against the dictatorial, His name is Rahul Gandhi!

It's high time the Kerala government take strict against hooliganism. pic.twitter.com/1WpI14TJDL

— Indian Youth Congress (@IYC) June 24, 2022

National Students’ Union of India tweeted slamming the SFI activists:

Shame on SFI

SFI Goons climb the wall of Sh. Rahul Gandhi Ji's Wayanad office and vandalises it. This shows SFI's violent face.
But remember hate & violence can never bigger than ideology of love. pic.twitter.com/c9XEciWFb9

— NSUI (@nsui) June 24, 2022

Party general secretary KC Venugopal said “Kerala CPI (M) has become so vile in pleasing the vicious BJP that where the BJP is misusing the ED against him, CPI (M) in Kerala unleashes violence on his office.”

Strongly condemn the attack on Shri @RahulGandhi's office by the SFI goons.

Kerala CPI (M) has become so vile in pleasing the vicious BJP that where the BJP is misusing the ED against him, CPI (M) in Kerala unleashes violence on his office.

Their nasty deal has been revealed. pic.twitter.com/cM7f91Tf9s

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) June 24, 2022

Congress Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted the video of the attack and asked whether “this their idea of politics?” :

Visuals of the trashing of ⁦@RahulGandhi⁩’s Wayanad office by activists of ⁦@CPIMKerala⁩ student wing, SFI. Would ⁦@pinarayivijayan⁩ & ⁦@SitaramYechury⁩ take disciplinary action or let their silence condone such behaviour? Is this their idea of politics? pic.twitter.com/uu5DSIB3mW

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) June 24, 2022

But Rahul Gandhi did raise his voice against the ESZ

Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to help address the concerns of those affected by the Supreme Court order on maintenance of ESZ.

The Wayanad MP, sharing his letter to the prime minister in a Facebook post, said he has drawn his attention to the plight of the local communities of Kerala’s Wayanad whose livelihoods will be adversely affected by the recent Supreme Court order.

“The state and the Union governments can help by requesting dilution of a minimum width of an ESZ to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC). The Supreme Court judgment considers recommendations made by the CEC and the MoEF&CC,” he said in his Facebook post.

In his letter to the prime minister, Gandhi said he has also sent a missive to the Kerala chief minister on the issue.

“I request the Union government to address these concerns in the larger public interest and reiterate our shared commitment to balancing conservation goals with our people’s legitimate developmental needs,” Gandhi said in the letter to Modi.

Recalling the recent judgement of the Supreme Court in the T N Godavarman Thirumulpad versus Union of India and others case, Gandhi said it mandates maintenance of an Eco-Sensitive Zone ( ESZ ) of one km around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries which has led to widespread protests around Wayanad parliamentary constituency.

“Local communities, still reeling under the impact of the Covid pandemic, have expressed grave concerns regarding the implications of this judgment on their lives and livelihoods.

The apex court recently issued a direction that each protected forest, including national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, must have an ESZ of one kilometre and banned mining activities within such parks across the nation.

The high range areas of Kerala, particularly areas in Idukki, Wayanad, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts, had been witnessing hartals by various political and farmers’ groups against the apex court order delivered on 3 June.

Issuing a slew of directions, a bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao had on 3 June ordered that no permanent structure will be allowed within such ESZs and said if the local law or other rules provide for an ESZ of more than one kilometre then the earlier provision would continue to apply.

The SC order came on a batch of applications filed on a pending PIL of 1995 and they raised two sets of issues with the first one related to mining activities in and around Jamua Ramgarh, a wildlife sanctuary in Rajasthan. The second set of issues was related to prescribing ESZs surrounding the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.

With input from agencies

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