By The Hindu Bureau
Copyright thehindu
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener, T.P. Ramakrishnan, on Monday expressed concern that Congress legislator Rahul Mamkootathil’s continuation in office despite several complaints of recurrent sexually predatory behaviour towards women would have a chilling effect on alleged victims and traumatically deter them from seeking justice.
Mr. Ramakrishnan told a news conference that the treasury benches would not prevent Mr. Mamkootathil’s presence in the Assembly. “Mamkootathil is solely Congress’ liability and merited no discussion in the LDF,” he said.
He stated that, as Palakkad MLA, Mr. Mamkootathil was technically entitled to his seat in the House and had Constitutional protection, which Speaker A.N. Shamseer had honoured by seating him as a separate bloc following disbarment from the Congress Legislative Party (CLP).
The LDF would adhere to the law and not attempt to resist Mr. Mamkootathil’s attendance in the House. However, larger questions of ethics, political propriety, and civic social values transcended technical questions solely concerning constitutionality in Mr. Mamkootathil’s case.
Mr. Ramakrishnan stated that Congress and its alliance partners had a moral obligation to clarify the message the Opposition aimed to send to society, particularly to women and alleged victims, by “tacitly” permitting an alleged serial sex offender to broadcast his political heft that comes with elected office seemingly remorselessly.
He said Congress leadership appeared deeply divided over the “Mamkootathil issue”. “Several leaders, including women, have demanded he resign as Palakkad MLA and faced vicious cyber attacks. However, several other leaders equivocated over whether Mr. Mamkootathil should continue as MLA and stressed his constitutional right to attend the Assembly,” he stated.
Mr. Ramakrishnan said Mr. Mamkootathil had thrown down a gauntlet to the people by attending the Assembly. “It is only natural that society will rise in protest,” he said.
Mr. Ramakrishnan dismissed accusations of widespread brutality and corruption in the police. He said the UDF cherry-picked belated and one-off incidents to berate the government. He stated that the LDF would resist any attempt to disenfranchise Kerala voters, using the Special Intensive Revision of the voters’ list as a pretext.
The LDF meeting also decided to hold candlelight vigils and evening meetings on September 23 to protest Israel’s attack on Qatar. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan attended the LDF meeting.
