Alan Suhaib and Thaha Fazal are Maoists, not CPI(M) workers: Kerala CM Pinarayi

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has termed the two young people who were arrested by the police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, as Maoists.

The Chief Minister made the statement while speaking to media on Saturday in Thiruvananthapuram. He was asked on the court denying bail to Alan Suhaib and Thaha Fazal, who are CPI(M) activists, by the court. “Which party activists?’, the CM then repeated to the journalist who asked the question and said, “They are not CPI(M) activists, but Maoists. That had been examined and proved right,” he said.

Alan Suhaib and Thaha Fazal are CPI(M) activists who were arrested on November 1 for allegedly possessing and distributing brochures favouring Maoists.

The arrest was made two days after four persons suspected to be Maoists were killed by the counter-insurgency team of the Kerala police Thunderbolt, in the Agaly forest in Palakkad.

The imposition of charges under the draconian UAPA Act was widely flayed and the Kerala Opposition has come out strongly against it.

Foreign visit

The CM and a team of officials had been on a visit to Japan and Korea recently for engaging in discussions to attract investment in the state.

“The foreign trip was to attract investment in infrastructure development, education and health. Nitta Gelatin, Japan based gelatin company that has been functioning in Kerala for four decades, has decided to invest Rs 200 crore in the state for expansion. This is an approval for the changed environmental atmosphere in the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Opposition has been alleging that the CM’s foreign trip was undertaken for leisure. In response, the Pinarayi said, ”If it was a leisure trip, you can ask the officials in the team. The travel expense of none of the family members was borne by the government," he said. 

Sabarimala

On the attempt of Trupti Desai, an activist who is part of Bhumata Brigade, to visit the Sabarimala temple in November when the CM was away for the foreign visit, Pinarayi said she had come to visit Lord Ayyappan.

Also Read: Opinion: UAPA against Kerala students is a shocking instance of thought policing