Priyanka Gandhi raises concerns about police action against protesting LPST rank-holders in Keralam capital

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday expressed concern over the United Democratic Front (UDF) government’s controversial use of police force against All Kerala Primary School Teacher (LPST) rank-holders association activists on an indefinite strike for employment in front of the Secretariat for the past 130 days. Ms. Vadra, a high-profile public face of the ongoing Jantar Mantar agitation demanding the exit of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged voters’ list fraud, told reporters in Wayanad that citizens should zealously guard their constitutionally guaranteed right to protest peacefully. Notably, Ms. Vadra was among the scores of INDIA bloc leaders who violated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government’s restriction on Jantar Mantar rallies and courted arrest. “People have the right to protest in democracies. However, if there is excessive violence causing injuries, the police reserve the lawful right to restore public peace and law and order,” she said. Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary M.V. Govindan, who visited the LPST agitators on an indefinite hunger strike, condemned the government’s use of force to dismantle the protesters’ shed. “The police hauled S. Valarmathi (LPST secretary) through the road at night. They hustled Ms. Valarmathi, weakened by her 12-day fast, into a van. They rushed her away from her co-agitationists, even as officers dismantled the shed on Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan’s orders. Mr. Satheesan has taken a page out of the BJP’s playbook by using force to quell democratic dissent,” he said. The UDF government appeared to scramble to defend itself against allegations that it was increasingly intolerant towards democratic protests and had mimicked the police action against INDIA bloc protestors in New Delhi. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the police removed the agitation shed to avoid contempt-of-court proceedings. “The police are facing a slew of contempt of court charges for failing to remove sheds that impede free pedestrian and vehicular movement. The UDF is not intolerant of democratic expressions of dissent. Being in government does not change our democratic politics,” he added. Health Minister K. Muraleedharan said the police had information that some quarters were usurping the agitators’ cause to put the UDF government on the defensive. When reporters pointed out that AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal had promised appointments for LPST rankholders during the Assembly election campaign, Mr. Muraleedharan said. “The situation has changed, given the dwindling number of student enrolments in government schools.”General Education Minister N. Shamshudeen said the UDF could not allow protesters on an indefinite hunger strike, including Ms. Valarmathi, to die under its watch. He said the LPST rank-holders’ demand to revise the student-teacher ratio to 1:25 was impractical and fiscally imprudent, given the division fall in government schools.Meanwhile, the CJP and the BJP have expressed solidarity with the strikers. Published - November 12, 2026 06:45 pm IST