Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 27 (IANS) Kerala Health Minister Veena George has become a subject of ridicule before the people of the state, Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said on Friday.

“People laugh at the very mention of her name,” Satheesan told reporters in Adoor.

He alleged that the CPI-M was unleashing violence across Kerala by widely propagating what he termed a blatant falsehood that Health Minister Veena George was injured during a KSU protest at Kannur on Wednesday.

“A bomb was hurled at the house of a KSU leader who participated in the protest, and false cases were allegedly fabricated to jail KSU workers on charges of attempt to murder,” Satheesan claimed.

Five KSU workers are currently in jail after being arrested for protesting and waving black flags at Veena George when she arrived at the railway platform in Kannur.

According to Satheesan, it has become clear to the people of Kerala that the Minister, Speaker A.N. Shamseer, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI-M state secretary M.V. Govindan made statements that were untrue regarding the incident that took place at the Kannur railway platform.

He accused CPI-M leaders of calling for statewide unrest under the pretext of an attack that, he maintained, never occurred.

Publicity materials related to his yatra were destroyed in Pathanamthitta, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram, and several people were injured in the incidents, he said, adding that houses were attacked using crude bombs.

Referring to CPI-M state secretary M.V. Govindan, Satheesan said allegations that KSU workers grabbed the Minister’s shawl and hand were baseless and intended to incite violence.

The “attack narrative”, he claimed, was a conspiracy to divert attention from issues in the health sector and had now collapsed.

“The medical bulletin does not specify any injury caused by an attack. The media, the Railways and the public are aware that it was merely an act,” he said, adding that there was no need for hospitalisation despite reports being circulated about a possible surgery.

He demanded that the attempt-to-murder charges against the KSU workers be withdrawn and that a case be registered against Govindan for alleged incitement to violence.

The Opposition, he said, would fight the matter both politically and legally, and the CPI-M must end the violence immediately.

–IANS

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