The youth wing of CPI (M) on Friday accused the Congress party for allegedly including a person accused of murder to participate in its Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala.
The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the ruling CPI(M), lashed out at the Congress party for allegedly allowing Nikhil Paily, the prime accused in the murder of Dheeraj Rajendran, to be a part of its Yatra.
DYFI state Secretary VK Sanoj said the Congress allowed Paily to be a part of the foot march to insult the family of 21-year old Rajendran, who was stabbed to death on January 10 at the Idukki Engineering College allegedly by KSU activists including Paily.
"The Congress party has been insulting the family of Dheeraj for some time. The first accused in the Dheeraj murder case Nikhil Paily, who is currently on bail, was made part of the foot march is another way of insulting Dheeraj's family," Sanoj said in a statement.
He asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi whether the foot march was to create acceptance to the murder accused. Rahul is leading the Congress march.
"The Congress leadership and Rahul Gandhi should explain what message they were trying to send out by allowing a criminal, who murdered a student activist, to become a part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra," the DYFI said.
Paily joined the foot march recently and had shared his pictures during the Yatra on social media.
Kerala Pradesh Mahila Congress state secretary Bindhu Chandra V had also shared a picture of hers with Paily as part of the Yatra.
However, the Congress leadership was yet to react to the criticism by DYFI.
Rajendran, an activist of its student wing SFI, was stabbed to death on January 10 at Idukki Engineering college allegedly by KSU activists. Paily, a district-level leader of the Youth Congress and Jerin Jijo were arrested for stabbing Rajendran, a student of the college, to death. Two other students, Abjijith and Amal, were also seriously injured in the attack.
In the FIR, the police have mentioned that the murder took place due to political rivalry.
This is a second round of embarassment for the Congress party, whose workers were earlier also seen threatening vendors over donation for the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra. Three workers were suspended for the act. Visuals of the workers had appeared on the internet.
Congress scion Rahul on Friday led the Bharat Jodo Yatra through Kerala's Kollam. It began from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 and is expected to cover at least 13 states and Union territories before culminating in Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. It is expected to cover 3,750 kms over 150 days on foot.
The Congress party has called the Bharat Jodo Yatra a "transformational moment" for Indian politics and a "decisive moment" for the party's revival. It has also hailed the Yatra as its biggest mass contact programme since Independence in 1947.
(With PTI inputs)
