Opposition UDF slams Kerala CM's remarks against media, police action against scribe

A day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan lambasted the media amidst his US trip and a journalist was booked in a conspiracy case on an SFI leader's complaint, the Congress-led UDF opposition on Sunday lashed out at the CM and his party by accusing them of interfering with press freedom.

Vijayan on Saturday had hit out at a section of media houses in the state, saying they have been spreading "baseless lies" against the ongoing American Regional Conference of the Loka Kerala Sabha and creating a controversy out of nothing. Prior to that, the state police booked five people, including a journalist of a leading Malayalam channel, on the basis of a complaint filed by a left-wing student leader alleging that they conspired to tarnish his image in connection with a mark list row.

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The complaint was lodged by P M Arsho, state secretary of SFI, the student wing of ruling CPI(M). Reacting to these developments, the Congress and the UDF opposition led by it in the state slammed Vijayan and his government for allegedly trying to interfere with press freedom. Even the CPI, an ally of the ruling-CPI(M) in state, criticised the action taken against the journalist on the complaint by the SFI leader.

C Divakaran, a senior CPI leader, said he was strongly opposed to the action taken against the scribe. "I do not understand what wrong was committed. But such actions against journalists is not right," he opined. The CPI(M), on the other hand, adopted a hard stand with its state secretary M V Govindan saying that any anti-government or anti-SFI campaign in the name of reporting would invite action.

He said, "In the name of press reporting, if an anti-government or anti-SFI campaign is run, then they will be included in the case. It has been done in the past and will happen again. Let there be no doubt about it," Govindan, said in the instant case, appropriate action would be taken against anyone who was involved in the matter. "Everyone who was part of the conspiracy will be brought before the law," he added.

The Left government stand, the CM's comments in the US and the action against the journalist were severely criticised by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Sudhakaran. Sudhakaran alleged that the Left regime in Kerala was interfering with press freedom and was hunting the media.

He said that Vijayan, who keeps lamenting that India was ranked 161 in press freedom out of 180 nations, was himself interfering with the independence of the media. Sudhakaran claimed that Vijayan was acting like the brother of Modi who had allegedly taken vengeful action against the BBC and MediaOne for criticising the ruling BJP at the Centre. Speaking along similar lines, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan said that Vijayan was adopting "the Modi style" and was attempting to silence dissenting voices.

Satheesan said the CPI(M) state secretary's stand was full of arrogance and questioned whether he was trying to scare the opposition. "It is the CM who is authorised to rule and not the party secretary," he said and called Vijayan a "coward". Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan also criticised Vijayan for his comments made in the US about Kerala media and said "his mental status needs to be examined".

Muraleedharan, an MP, also castigated the action taken against a journalist for reporting a matter. "He needs to end his mindset regarding the media. He should not lash out at those criticising him. He should end this enmity towards the media as it could otherwise affect the standing of his party in the state," he said.

A case was registered by police under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code such as Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 465 (forgery) and 500 (defamation) among others on June 9 against five persons, including the journalist. A controversy erupted on June 6 after KSU had raised an allegation showing a mark list in which Arsho, who is also a student of Maharaja's College in Ernakulam, had "passed" even though he did not attend any exam.

Later, the college had clarified that his name was seen among another batch's result and clarified it as a technical error. "A fake result was published in March 2023 in which the complainant has cleared an exam, which he did not even register for and the same was circulated through social media on June 6 with an intention to tarnish the image of the complainant and SFI," the FIR read. Arsho had alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the incident.