UDF withdraws dawn-to-dusk hartal at Perinthalmanna in Kerala’s Malappuram

The United Democratic Front (UDF) on Monday morning called off its dawn-to-dusk hartal in Perinthalmanna Assembly constituency in Malappuram district of Kerala after the police took into custody five activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] who were allegedly involved in an attack on a local office of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) a day earlier.

Addressing the media, Perinthalmanna MLA and IUML leader Najeeb Kanthapuram said the hartal was withdrawn in view of the “inconvenience” it would have caused to the people. The UDF declared the hartal on Sunday night in protest against the alleged hurling of stones at the IUML office in the town.

CPI(M) stance

The CPI(M), however, claimed it was the IUML activists who first attacked the party’s area committee office during their victory celebrations on Sunday evening to mark the success of UDF candidates in the recently concluded local body polls. The UDF had come to power in the Perinthalmanna municipality after the elections, breaking the LDF’s 30-year-long unbroken stint there.

The CPI(M) later took out a protest march in the town. The alleged stone-pelting incident against the IUML office, titled CH Centre, occurred when the protesters passed by its premises around 9.30 p.m. Mr. Najeeb and other workers thereafter staged a protest, blocking the Palakkad-Kozhikode road seeking action against the culprits. The UDF subsequently declared a hartal in the constituency between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. The police, meanwhile, swung into action soon and stepped up security in the town.