CPI leader seeks Kerala ADGP’s removal over ‘secret’ RSS meeting

Senior CPI leader K Prakash Babu on Thursday sought the removal of additional director general of police (law and order) MR Ajithkumar if he cannot explain why he privately held meetings with leaders from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Babu made his demand in a column he wrote in CPI’s mouthpiece, Janayugam.
“Everyone is eager to know why one of the state’s top police officers conducted secret meetings with leaders of a right-wing communal organisation like RSS especially when the atmosphere in the state was so peaceful,” Babu wrote. “That officer has the responsibility to explain on what official or personal basis did he conduct the meetings. He must at least explain to the state DGP or the home department in writing. If the officer is not willing to do it, he must be removed from his position.”
Ajithkumar, a 1995 batch IPS officer, is currently facing an inquiry by an internal police panel, headed by state DGP Shaik Darvesh Saheb, in light of his alleged meetings with RSS leaders Dattatreya Hosabale and Ram Madhav last year. He was also accused of being linked with gold smuggling gangs, tapping phone conversations of ministers and disrupting the Thrissur Pooram festivities on the basis of a complaint submitted to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan by Left Democratic Front (LDF) MLA PV Anvar.
In his column, Babu further said, “An officer who cannot understand the pro-public policies of a popular government will often land the administration in a crisis. The officer in charge of law and order in the state, through his meetings with RSS leaders, has wreaked a similar crisis.”
Babu called Ajithkumar a “blemish” on the Left-oriented political understanding and the administrative system led by it by holding discussions with leaders of a “fascist” organisation.
He also exhorted the LDF government to show political will and stop hiding behind technicalities. “That delayed justice is denied justice holds not just for the judiciary but also for the government and the ruling front. Left-oriented policies must not cast doubts in the minds of the public,” he wrote.
Babu’s words in the Janayugam column reiterated the stand of the Communist Party of India (CPI) that Ajithkumar must be removed from his position until he is exonerated.
Meanwhile, senior CPI(M) leader and LDF convener TP Ramakrishnan indicated that the government can only act on the basis of the findings of the investigation report of the DGP-led panel.
“There is a complaint against the ADGP and it is being investigated. Let the probe report come. Whoever is named as guilty in the report will be punished. There will be more clarity once the report comes,” he said.