Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Saturday blamed the Left front government for its “failure to crack down on the drug mafia that has spread rapidly across the State.”
“The government and its agencies, including the excise and the police, have not yet been able to identify the source of highly dangerous narcotic substances being dumped into the State,” he told mediapersons in Ernakulam.
Mr. Satheesan alleged that Kerala had turned into a State where you can “source drugs within minutes.”
“It is available everywhere. Students appearing for the SSLC examinations are holding drug parties. Drug parties have become common in five-star hotels, vacant houses, and open places,” he alleged, calling for a mass campaign to identify and seal the source of drugs.
KPCC president K. Sudhakaran, in a Facebook post on the death of a student following a violent clash between two groups of students at Thamarassery, said most accused in violent crimes were addicted to contraband drugs. Mr. Sudhakaran blamed the State government and the civil servants for the drug mafia gaining ground in the State.
BJP State president K. Surendran, too, said the State was in the clutches of the drug mafia. He said schools were being used as hubs of contraband drug running, with children being engaged as carriers. “There’s reason to suspect the involvement of anti-national elements in the spread of narcotic drugs,” he said.
The Students Federation of India (SFI) also issued a press note expressing concern about mob violence and drug abuse in teenagers in the context of the Thamarassery incident. “It is a matter of concern that teenage students could form new media groups to plan attacks on peers and behave nonchalantly after the attack is carried out,” the release issued by M. Sivaprasad, State president, and P.S. Sanjeev, secretary, said.
They said that a ban on campus politics and the absence of creative arts, sports, cultural and voluntary organisations in educational institutions did play a role in anarchic and anti-social practices spreading their tentacles.
Published – March 01, 2025 08:41 pm IST