Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday condemned the police attack on agitators in Keezhatoor and the burning down of their agitation pandal allegedly by CPM workers. At a press conference here, Mr Chennithala said the people's agitation was against the levelling of paddy fields for constructing a bypass. The police action against people raising such issues is highly condemnable. While the police was too eager to remove the agitators from the site, it had not taken strict action against CPM workers responsible for burning down the agitation shed. "It is strange that people's agitations were being attacked in this fashion," he said.
"I strongly condemn the strong arm tactics being adopted by the police. This is not Xi Jinping government to brutally attack agitators and silence them. What Buddhadeb Bhattacharya did in Nandigram is being repeated by Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala," he said and urged the government to initiate steps for ending the agitation. "The burning of the pandal was nothing short of fascist act. We will not allow the government to turn Keezhatoor into a Nandigram," he added. The Opposition leader said he was not against any development but the government should take the farmers and local people into confidence before going ahead with such projects.
