Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 2 (IANS) The Congress on Monday intensified its attack on the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government by launching a website and releasing a charge sheet under the banner of the ‘Kadakku Purathu’ campaign, reviving a phrase that has come to symbolise his combative relationship with the media and critics.
The campaign derives its name from a 2017 incident when Chief Minister Vijayan abruptly told journalists to “Kadakku Purathu” (Malayalam for “get out”) during a peace meeting convened in Thiruvananthapuram with senior CPI-M and BJP/RSS leaders.
The Chief Minister reportedly lost his temper on seeing a large contingent of reporters at the venue and directed them to leave.
Only after journalists exited the hall did he enter the meeting.
The Chief Minister’s Office later justified the outburst, stating that the media had not been invited to the meeting.
However, the incident triggered widespread protests from journalists across Kerala, who registered their dissent through newspapers, television channels and social media.
The episode entered public memory largely due to the strong headlines carried by a leading vernacular daily, here, which sharply criticised the government’s attitude towards press freedom.
By reviving the slogan, the Congress is seeking to turn a moment of public controversy into a political weapon ahead of elections.
As part of the campaign, the party launched the website kadakkupurathu.com, which it claims allows citizens to symbolically “remove the Chief Minister from the throne”.
The platform also enables the public to register complaints against the government.
The website can be accessed by scanning a QR code featuring the Chief Minister’s image or by directly visiting the URL.
It hosts a detailed charge sheet listing what the Congress calls the government’s failures across sectors.
Issues flagged include unemployment among the youth, the agrarian crisis, alleged temple thefts, rising drug abuse, wildlife attacks on human settlements, and challenges faced by secular values in the state.
The Congress has described the initiative as an attempt to channel public anger against what it terms PR-driven governance.
With political temperatures rising and elections approaching, the revival of ‘Kadakku Purathu’ underscores how a phrase uttered in anger nearly eight years ago has returned to haunt the Chief Minister in the political arena, with Assembly polls to be announced in a few weeks’ time.
–IANS
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