An apparently defiant former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan emerged with a raised fist, a universal working class symbol signalling solidarity, strength, and resistance, greeting hundreds of Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] workers who had mustered themselves in strength outside his house in Thiruvananthapuram to protest against the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s seven-hour raid which commenced at 6 a.m. on Wednesday. 

Mr Vijayan, now the Leader of the Opposition, stepped out of the front door, flanked by top CPI(M) leaders, including CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan, and broadcast a message of strong dissent. “The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has subverted Central enforcement agencies to target Opposition figures, while the Congress, the main Opposition party in the Parliament, has encouraged the Central government’s trespasses on democracy, federalism and political propriety with silent glee”, he said. 

Mr Vijayan noted that the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, had openly wondered why the ED was not arresting the then Chief Minister and his family in the latter’s Assembly campaign speeches in Kerala. “I hope he is cheerful now”, he added. 

Mr Vijayan said the BJP’s sabre-rattling, with Congress’s tacit support, won’t pass muster with the party of the working classes. “The Communist movement is not going to end. It has faced worse excesses and thrived for the masses. This is not the end. It’s just the beginning of a long battle for democracy and equality”, Mr Vijayan added. 

Mr Vijayan said the ED officials had acquitted themselves well through their proper behaviour. “They are bound to obey their masters. They are just government employees. I won’t blame them”, Mr Vijayan said. 

However, Mr Vijayan’s words appeared belated. Scores of CPI(M) workers damaged the vehicles ferrying ED officials as they exited Mr Vijayan’s house compound, despite the strong police bandobust. 

The belligerent workers smashed the windshields of the vehicles and allegedly assaulted officers inside the cabins, even as the riot police officers swung batons in vain to disperse the crowd.

The police arrested scores of party workers and transported them in police buses to the Armed Reserve Camp at Nandavanam in Thiruvananthapuram as part of the legal process.