Pinarayi should give the Home portfolio to someone else: Chennithala

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday came down heavily on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the arrest of five students from Ernakulam’s Maharajas College for allegedly carrying out graffiti work on the college walls.

Chennithala accused the police under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-led government of adopting a "brutal fascist policy" to silence the voices of students, artists and writers.

“The present situation in the state is that the police can do anything they want. The latest incident in Maharajas College happened hours after the CM’s assurance of proper action following protests over the police action against Kamal C Chavara and Nadeer. That shows the CM has lost control over the police force. If he has no time, then he should give the Home portfolio to someone else,” Chennithala said.

"The police controlled by Vijayan is implementing the agenda of the BJP," Chennithala said.

The arrests were made based on a complaint by College principal, in which she had alleged that the students through their alleged graffiti work caused destruction to the public property, police said.

All those who protested against the arrests including Chennithala, students and activists had alleged that action was taken against the students for simple wall writing of poems by eminent Malayalam poets.