Shashi Tharoor writes to Om Birla over Kerala Police action at Cong rally, alleges violation of privileges

Several senior Congress leaders, including MPs and MLAs, suffered from suffocation and some were even hospitalised after police fired tear-gas shells.

Also read: Police, KSU workers clash during protest march to DGP office

Tharoor’s letter to LS Speaker

In a letter to Birla dated 23 December, Tharoor said, “I am writing to you today to bring to your urgent attention a grave violation of parliamentary privileges as well as a blatant assault on elected representatives and other peaceful protesters that took place earlier today in my constituency of Thiruvananthapuram.”

The incident took place at a rally where several fellow MPs, MLAs, leaders and several hundred workers from the Indian National Congress came together to register a peaceful protest condemning the recent spate of excesses by law enforcement agencies like Kerala Police against those critical of the current state government, which is seen widely as an attempt to “curb democratic dissent”, he said.

“While the organisers of the rally had obtained the necessary permissions from various authorities to hold the protest, we were shocked when, without provocation or warning, tear gas shells were fired, landing just behind the stage while the Leader of the Opposition was addressing the rally.

“The subsequent fusillade of more tear gas shells was accompanied by water cannons, used by the police to break up the rally,” Tharoor said.

“With skin, eyes and lungs still smarting, I have spoken in the strongest possible terms to the DGP, protesting this behaviour by his subordinates. He has promised a full enquiry,” the MP said.

But the firing of tear gas shells against the stage, which was occupied by a number of senior public representatives, MPs and MLAs, clearly involves a serious breach of parliamentary privileges and immunities, he said.

“As the custodian of the House of which I am a member, I am writing to you today to urge you to look into this matter at your earliest convenience so that necessary action and strictures can be initiated in a time-bound manner,” Tharoor said in his letter to Birla.

The manner in which elected representatives and hundreds of other victims were brutally assaulted by a completely unjustified and wanton attack by Kerala Police, using the highest-grade tear gas and water cannons against a peaceful protest rally, is a serious infringement on their basic democratic liberties and must be investigated immediately, he asserted.

“In light of these developments, I would be grateful if you could kindly examine the matter of the breach of Parliamentary privilege sympathetically and take appropriate action,” Tharoor said.

My letter yesterday to the Hon Lok Sabha Speaker @ombirlakota on the incident: https://t.co/NiJM25AhD6 pic.twitter.com/qeuKmLfc50

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 24, 2023

Also read: Kerala Cong chief seeks ‘breach of privilege’ proceedings on police

Sudhakaran’s letter

In the letter, Sudhakaran said that the police “callously unleashed a potent barrage of teargas directly at the stage”, endangering the lives of all present there.

He further alleged that the intensity of the attack left him grappling with severe breathing difficulties, rendering him unconscious and necessitating immediate hospitalisation.

In the letter, the Kannur MP alleged breach of privilege and targeted assault on his life and his fellow Members of Parliament during the march organised by the Congress that morning.

The senior leader charged in the letter that the “heinous breach of privilege” was orchestrated by the Kerala Police under the “explicit directives” of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The MP pointed out that this brutal act was a blatant violation of his Parliamentary privilege.

“Pinarayi Vijayan’s audacious intent to employ police force to physically target me not only infringes upon my human rights but also undermines our sacrosanct democratic right to engage in peaceful protest, a right I hold as a solemn duty to represent the voice of my people,” Sudhakaran said in the letter.

Related: Kerala Police book Congress leaders, CM’s security personnel

The incident

The protest march by the Opposition Congress towards the Kerala DGP office in Thiruvananthapuram on 23 December turned violent, with agitators hurling stones and sticks at the police, following which water cannons were used to disperse the crowd.

Eyewitnesses confirmed that the police targeted the front row of protesters while Opposition Leader VD Satheesan was addressing the rally taken out to the state police headquarters near Vazhuthacaud. They said the police acted unprovoked.

Senior leaders, including Sudhakaran, Ramesh Chennithala, Tharoor, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly VD Satheesan, and others were present on the makeshift stage near the DGP office when the police used teargas and water cannons.

Sudhakaran and Chennithala were visibly affected by the tear gas used by the police and were escorted by the Congress workers to an available car nearby.

Both the leaders were taken to a nearby hospital for necessary treatment.

Later in the day, the Kerala Police registered a case against state Congress chief K Sudhakaran, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly VD Satheesan, and the senior leaders in connection with the violence in Thiruvananthapuram.

The police also registered a case against two security personnel of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for allegedly assaulting Youth Congress workers recently while they were protesting against the Left government’s Nava Kerala Sadas yatra, said officials in Alappuzha.

Also read: Kerala Police lob teargas shells ‘unprovoked’ at Congress rally

(With PTI inputs)