Thiruvananthapuram: CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran on Thursday said that granting magisterial powers to police commissioners is not acceptable.
At a press conference here to brief the media on the deliberations of two-day state executive and state council meetings, Mr Rajendran said it was a policy matter and home department alone cannot take a decision on the issue. When asked about the government order creating commissionerates, the CPI leader said the powers of the officers had not been notified. "We are not against appointment of commissioners. But the communist parties have always taken a stand against granting magisterial powers to police officers," he said and added that such matters have to be discussed in the LDF.
The CPI had shot off a letter to the chief minister expressing its opposition to the move.
On the cartoon controversy, he said no minister had the right to interfere with the decision of an autonomous body like Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi. "Tomorrow if someone raises objection about a particular cinema award, will you change it ? Autonomous bodies have the freedom to take decisions. Moreover the Left has always stood for protection of democratic rights and constitutional rights," he said.
The akademi on Wednesday had decided to withdraw the award given to a cartoon after the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) expressed serious reservations alleging that it depicted religious symbols in poor light and insulted priests. The cartoon by K.K. Subhash, a cartoonist with a local magazine, which criticised former bishop of Jalandhar Franco Mulakkal who is accused of raping a nun, won the first prize in annual cartoon contest.
Mr Rajendran said the leadership meetings conducted a detailed evaluation of election results. The report submitted by the executive was approved after a detailed discussion in which 37 members took part.
The CPI viewed the 12 per cent gap between the LDF and UDF which was the highest since the formation of the front in 1980 as a major issue that needs detailed analysis. The vote difference in 2014 was just 2 per cent.
"It is a political defeat. But we consider the electoral setback as a temporary phenomena and we are confident of coming back strongly," he added.
