KOCHI: A group of writers, artists and cultural personalities has urged chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to direct the police to drop charges against the people arrested in connection with the agitation at Vadayampady and initiate action against “violation of the basic human rights of the Dalit populace of Vadayampady”.
In a joint statement, they said that the police has “mounted a deliberate attempt to raise the ‘Maoist’ bogey to alienate those engaged in the struggle from the rest of the local community and the society at large”.
The arrest of Ananthu Rajagopal-Asha and Abhilash Padachery, along with Vadayampady Bhoo Avakasha Samrakshana Munnani convener Sasi Vadayampady, raises disturbing questions, the statement said. Although they were given bail, the charges against them stand.
The statement also condemned the arrest of V.K.Joy on Wednesday. The signatories included Satchidanandan, Sashikumar, Zachariah, B. Rajeevan, Riyas Komu, T.N. Joy, N.S. Madhavan, K.P. Kumaran, T.V. Chandran, P.N. Gopikrishnan, Savitri Rajeevan, J. Devika, Rajeev Ravi, B. Ajit, Dileep Raj, C.S. Venkiteswaran and several others.
