JOIN USCPM in Kerala faces criticism for anti-media measures
Similar to the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre being flayed for the police action against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, Kerala’s ruling CPM is also facing criticism for its slew of measures against the media in the state.
Recently, it was discovered that CPM MLA, and former minister, K T Jaleel had written to the UAE consulate in Kerala seeking action against a Malayalam daily published from Gulf countries, for publishing reports about death of NRIs due to Covid-19. In another instance, a case was registered in April against a television journalist in Kerala—who was unaware of it for the longest time—in connection with a remark he made against CMP Rajya Sabha MP Elamaram Kareem in a channel discussion.
There was also widespread resentment among journalists when the Pinarayi Vijayan government posted as district collector, an IAS officer accused of drunken driving which led to the death of a young journalist.
Apart from the journalists’ groups such as Kerala Union and Working Journalists and Thiruvananthapuram Press Club, the Opposition party of Congress also flayed these actions.
A police case was registered in Thiruvananthapuram city against Vinu V John in April for his comment against Kareem in a television discussion in March. In the discussion, John had called out Kareem, a trade union leader, when the latter tried to downplay the difficulties caused to common citizens during trade unions’ hartals. John asked whether Kareem’s reaction would have been the same if Kareem, or anyone close to him, suffered the same hardships due to hartals.
This provoked Kareem, and there was widespread social media and poster campaigns against John over this issue.
John said that he came to know a case was registered against him in April only when he applied for renewal of his passport. He also expressed his fears that the case could be a move to trap him, as he continuously criticised the government in his television programmes.
However, the police maintained that there was no formal notice sent to John because further steps in the case were pending.
Similarly, former higher education minister Jaleel sent a letter to the UAE consul general in Kerala seeking “appropriate action” against a daily for reporting the death of NRIs in Gulf countries. This came to light after Swapna Suresh accused the former minister of protocol violation by directly communicating with a foreign mission. Suresh is a former consulate employee, and a key accused in the UAE consulate smuggling case.
However, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that his party did not subscribe to such actions against the media.
The most recent instance that appalled media persons was the appointment of Sriram Venkitaram as the Alappuzha district collector. Venkitaram is the IAS officer who is named in the case of drunken driving that caused the death of journalist K M Basheer in Thiruvananthapuram in August 2019. Even CPM supporters flayed this decision on social media, and the Congress launched a protest on Monday against it.
The Pinarayi government was yet to review the decision