Veena George injury: CPI(M) rejects Congress charge that Health Minister feigned injury during KSU protest in Kannur

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has rejected Congress’ accusations that Kerala Health Minister Veena George feigned injury during a Kerala Students Union (KSU) black-flag protest at the Kannur railway station on Wednesday to imbue herself with “a martyr’s image” and retard the United Democratic Front (UDF)’s campaign against instances of medical negligence and alleged poor patient care in government hospitals. 

CPI(M) State secretary M V Govindan told reporters in Alappuzha on Thursday that the visuals “clearly showed” KSU workers lurking at the railway station, waylaying Ms George as she proceeded to the platform to board a train to Thiruvananthapuram, and then ambushing her. He accused Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan of “sanctioning the organised criminal attacks” against Ms George, including the trespass on her official residence in Thiruvananthapuram. 

Mr Govindan accused the UDF of “giving a leg-up to corporate-controlled” private health care sector by resorting to “Goebbelsian tactics to undermine public confidence in Kerala’s storied” public health sector.

The CPI(M)’s staunch defence of Ms George comes against the backdrop of Congress-CPI(M) violence in Kannur and Congress assertions defending the “direct political action” by the KSU activists. 

Mr Satheesan had on Wednesday said Ms George’s accusation that KSU workers had injured her was prima facie “improbable”, if visuals of the protest were any proof. He said fewer than four KSU workers were involved in the protest, while a posse of over 50 police officers cocooned Ms George in “a humanly impenetrable security ring.”

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Sunny Joseph on Thursday said a preliminary inquiry by the Congress had concluded that the KSU workers had not harmed the Minister, but “merely exercised their right to democratically protest” against deaths and injuries caused by medical negligence in government-run hospitals.

He said the police had foisted “false cases” on the KSU workers, including charges of attempted murder, at the instance of the CPI(M) leadership. In contrast, Mr Joseph said, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had “offered no commiseration” to KSU and Youth Congress protesters “brutalised” by CPI(M) activists during the Chief Minister’s Nava Kerala campaign. 

KSU leader Muhammed Shammas had told reporters in Kannur that Ms George had walked to the third platform and signalled discomfort in her neck only after she “received a call from the Chief Minister.” He said the Minister got herself admitted to the Kannur district hospital as an “afterthought,” and the CPI(M) sought to spotlight the issue by having Mr Vijayan pay her a high-profile visit.

He noted, rather acerbically, that the Minister won “several prizes for mono acts” as a school student.

Former KPCC president K Sudhakaran, MP, had termed Ms George as “an accomplished actor and a bad Health Minister”. 

Security at Congress offices beefed up

Meanwhile, the State police have upped security at Congress offices across Kerala, including the party headquarters at Indira Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram.

Mr Govindan and Mr Joseph, meanwhile, have urged their respective party cadres to exercise calm.