Rahul office attack: SFI disbands Wayanad district committee

Thiruvananthapuram: The Student Federation of India (SFI), the student body of the CPI-M has disbanded its Wayanad district committee following criticism over the attack on the office of Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Wayanad constituency, Rahul Gandhi.

SFI in a statement on Sunday said that a seven-member ad-hoc committee will look into the affairs of the Wayanad district committee till a new elected committee is put in place.

A group of around 100 SFI activists led by its Wayanad district secretary Jishnu Sasi had on June 24 ransacked the office of Rahul Gandhi and even smashed the photograph of Mahatma Gandhi. The secretary of Rahul Gandhi’s office and other staff were grievously injured in the attack.

The attack was against the inaction of Rahul Gandhi as a Member of Parliament on the issue of buffer zone in the constituency wherein a Supreme court directive had made it mandatory for every protected forest tract and wildlife sanctuary to have an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of one kilometer from its boundaries.

If such a buffer zone is implemented, large tracts of land in Wayanad district would fall into that category leading to the displacement of people and demolition of residential and commercial properties.

With the SFI having egg on its face following the attack, the CPI-M summoned the student body’s national president V.P. Sanu and state president K. Ansuree to the party-state headquarters AKG centre and gave dressing down to the leaders.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, LDF convener E.P. Jayarajan and senior CPI-M leaders deplored the action of the SFI. Sitram Yechury also came out strongly against the attack and vandalism of Rahul Gandhi’s office.

Leader of the opposition V.D. Satheeshan had lashed out against Chief Minister Vijayan over the attack on Rahul Gandhi’s office and had tweeted that when the gold smuggling issue allegations against the Chief Minister had come up, the CPI-M was resorting to tactics to divert the attention.