Idukki, Oct 21 (IANS) A controversy has erupted after students and parents of the Government Nursing College, Idukki, in Kerala, alleged that CPI-M district secretary C.V. Varghese threatened them during a meeting held to discuss their ongoing protest over poor infrastructure at the institution.

The students, who have been on strike since October 16, demanding basic facilities, including a hostel at Painavu — a promise earlier made by State Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine (who hails from the district), claimed that Varghese made derogatory remarks and warned that the college could be shut down if the agitation continued.

“If you want to study, study. The party knows how to close down the college it helped to establish,” Varghese reportedly told the gathering, according to participants.

The contentious remarks were allegedly made during a meeting on October 18 that was originally scheduled at the District Collector’s office but was later shifted to the CPI-M district office in Cheruthoni, citing the Collector’s absence.

The meeting was attended by the college principal, two faculty members, the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) president, two PTA executive members, and five student representatives.

At the meeting, the district secretary dismissed the students’ primary demand for a hostel at Painavu, asserting that the government would provide alternate accommodation and that refusal to accept it would lead to the closure of the college.

He also allegedly mocked students, saying that their protest would only cost them two years of study and yield no results.

Participants further alleged that when a PTA member spoke in support of the students, Varghese responded with a personal threat, asking, “Do you really know who I am?”

Reacting to the development, Idukki Lok Sabha member and Congress leader Dean Kuriakose said strange things are happening as it’s the CPI-M district secretary who is doing all this. The Congress MP asked what right he had to indulge in, and those responsible for going there to discuss the issue have also done wrong.

–IANS

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