Vijayan slams Centre over police action against activist Wangchuk, CJP founder Dipke

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 18 (PTI) Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday strongly condemned the police action against activist Sonam Wangchuk and Cockroach Janata Party founder Abhijit Dipke, accusing the Centre of "suppressing" democratic protests. In a statement, Vijayan said the Centre was duty-bound to answer for the alleged lapses and corruption in the functioning of the National Testing Agency, which, he claimed, had put the future of lakhs of students at risk. He alleged that instead of holding the Union Education Minister (Dharmendra Pradhan) accountable for allowing question paper mafias to flourish, the Narendra Modi-led government was "using the police to silence those seeking justice and exposing irregularities." Strongly condemning the detention of Wangchuk, Vijayan said the Centre and the Delhi Police were "undermining" citizens' constitutional right to dissent and protest. He described the police action against what he termed a peaceful and democratic agitation as "highly undemocratic", and criticised the government for refusing to engage in dialogue with the protesters. Vijayan demanded the unconditional release of Wangchuk, students and other social activists allegedly detained during the protest, and called upon all those who believe in democracy to raise their voice against what he described as "authoritarianism". Earlier in the day, Delhi Police shifted Wangchuk to Safdarjung Hospital from the Jantar Mantar protest site after his health deteriorated on the 21st day of his indefinite hunger strike, citing medical advice and directions of the Delhi High Court. Police said Wangchuk was moved for "essential medical care" and appealed to protesters to peacefully vacate the site. Dipke alleged that he was "assaulted and detained" during the police action, and later announced that he had begun an indefinite hunger strike. The CJP reiterated its demand for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation and said it would go ahead with its planned Parliament march on July 20. PTI LGK SSK