Red faces in Vijayan govt as SFI runs into new rows: festival jury member suicide to vet student death

With a slew of its leaders and cadres embroiled in several recent controversies in Kerala, the Students Federation of India (SFI), the CPI(M)’s student wing, has again put the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government in a spot, this time on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections.

Last month, J S Sidharthan, a second-year student at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Wayanad’s Pookode, was found hanging in the college hostel. In the days before his death, Sidharthan was allegedly assaulted, tortured and put on “trial” in the hostel complex by many students.

Of the 19 accused students arrested by the police in this case, four are the SFI leaders at the campus. Last Saturday, the state government decided to hand over the probe into the case to the CBI in the wake of mounting protests from the Opposition parties and demand from Sidharthan’s family.

A few days ago, the annual youth festival at the University of Kerala was abruptly cut short following clashes between the activists of the SFI and the Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student wing of the principal Opposition Congress. The accused from both sides were booked by the police.

The SFI was accused of allegedly assaulting the KSU activists who turned up at the venue of the festival which started on March 7. The KSU alleged that the SFI members targeted its activists from colleges where it leads the student unions.

Mar Ivanios College, where the KSU won the students union polls this year after a gap of 24 years, lodged a complaint with Governor Arif Mohammed Khan that its students were allegedly threatened by the SFI cadres.

However, SFI leader and University Students Union chairman Vijay Vimal accused the KSU and the ABVP, the RSS’ student wing, of allegedly derailing