Kannur/Thiruvananthapuram, February 25 According to police, Kerala Health Minister Veena George was allegedly injured on Wednesday during a protest by members of the Congress student wing, KSU, at the Kannur railway station.
The Kerala Students Union (KSU) and the state Congress leadership strongly denied the allegations and claimed that the incident was a "staged drama" by the minister and her party, the CPI(M).
The alleged incident occurred when the minister reached the station to board a Vande Bharat train after inaugurating the Kalyad International Ayurveda Research Centre, officials said.
State Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer, who was present at the station, said the minister suffered injuries to her hand and neck.
Television footage showed the minister, accompanied by police personnel, engaged in heated exchanges with protesters holding black flags.
The protesters were seen being restrained by the police. At least five KSU activists have been taken into custody in connection with the incident.
Senior CPI(M) leader P Jayarajan said George was shifted to the District Hospital in Kannur and is being treated in the intensive care unit.
The incident occurred days after Youth Congress workers trespassed into George’s official residence in Thiruvananthapuram and laid a funeral wreath in protest against alleged medical negligence cases linked to a surgical lapse at the Vandanam Government Medical College in Alappuzha several years ago.
The Kannur incident has triggered a political row in the poll-bound state, with the ruling CPI(M) and its youth wing DYFI holding protests in different parts of Kerala.
KSU leaders said their members staged only a peaceful protest and demanded the release of CCTV footage from the railway station to establish what happened.
The ruling CPI(M) alleged a conspiracy behind the incident, while Congress leaders rejected the charge and accused the government of politicising the issue.
Amid claims and counterclaims between the CPI(M) and the Congress over the issue, a medical bulletin issued by the District Hospital stated that expert doctors appointed by the superintendent of Pariyaram Medical College Hospital examined the minister and recommended an MRI scan and other specialist examinations in connection with the injury to her neck.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan visited George at the hospital and condemned the incident.
In a statement, the chief minister said the health minister was attacked and injured at Kannur railway station while she was walking towards the platform.
"What happened there was not a protest of any kind, but the rampage of a group of violent individuals," Vijayan said.
The CM said Kerala has one of the best public health systems in India, a fact recognised by official agencies, and accused the Congress of exaggerating certain incidents to target a minister who had no involvement whatsoever.
"Such actions cannot be seen as politics, but only as political degeneration," he said.
Warning the Congress leadership, Vijayan said they should not believe they could "unleash their supporters and disrupt law and order or create unrest in the state."
Reacting to the incident, senior Congress leader K Sudhakaran said that while George may not be a good health minister, she had proved to be a good actress.
He said the allegations being spread by the CPI(M) that the health minister was attacked are completely baseless and amount to a political drama staged by the CPI(M).
According to him, a close examination of the visuals circulated in connection with the incident clearly shows that the claims of an attack and injuries have no connection with what actually happened.
Echoing a similar view, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan said that based on a preliminary inquiry by the leadership and an examination of visuals aired so far on television channels, it is clear that KSU activists only staged a protest and that not even a single person went near the minister.
He said there were three or four KSU activists and around thirty to thirty-five police personnel present at the spot.
"Only visuals showing the minister shouting and moving towards the protesters have been released so far. If any wrongdoing has occurred from the side of KSU activists, action will be taken. According to the information available so far, no one went near the minister," he told reporters.
CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby said the attack carried out by KSU activists against George is extremely condemnable and worthy of strong protest.
"Gripped by fear of defeat in the forthcoming elections, the opposition is unleashing criminal gangs in an attempt to disrupt law and order in Kerala and is seeking shortcuts to power through such means," he alleged in a statement.
Meanwhile, protests erupted across the state under the leadership of the CPI(M) and its allied organisations against the attack on George.
In Kannur, a protest march by the SFI activists to the District Congress Committee (DCC) office turned violent, with protesters hurling stones at the building. Police resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the protesters.
KSU activists also allegedly pelted stones at SFI workers.
In some areas of south Kerala, activists allegedly damaged Congress flex boards.
