First He Said ‘Get Out’, Now Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Locks Reporters Out Of State Secretariat

Journalists in Kerala have pitted themselves against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after a series of incidents showing rude and restraining behavior of the chief ministerwhile doing their duty.

The regional media in Kerala on Tuesday alleged that journalists were restricted from entering the state secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram while they were on duty to report the submission of a judicial enquiry report. Calling it an unprecedented move, Malayalam media have reported the restriction as the lead story of the day. Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) issued a statement protesting against the government’s decision and alleged that it is an attempt to control the media.

According to reports in local media, the security personnel at the secretariat had informed the journalists that decision not to allow them inside was passed from the chief minister’s office. However, after it became a controversy, the CMO denied passing any such instruction.

The journalists were at the secretariat to report the submission of a judicial enquiry report on the alleged ‘honey trap’ by a Malayalam news channel that had led to the resignation of a minister in the Vijayan cabinet. Journalists alleged that the CMO had not put any restriction on journalists on a similar instance couple of weeks back during the submission of the judicial enquiry report on the solar scam involving the opposition leaders.

The incident has happened only a couple of days after Chief Minister Vijayan faced the ire of journalist fraternity for his rude one line remark ‘mari nilkk’ (stay away) to a TV journalist who was trying to take a byte from him. Vijayan had invited flak at an earlier instance when he literally shouted ‘kadakk purath’ (get out) to the journalists covering his meeting with BJP leaders described as ‘peace talk’ after a series of violent incidents were reported between the CPI(M) and BJP cadres.

Adding fuel to the confrontation, a local newspaper on Tuesday reported that there was an intelligence report about possible attacks on the CM by assailants disguising as journalists. However, the state intelligence and the police chief later rejected the report.