CPI(M) directs rank and file to defend Veena George

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] on Sunday reportedly issued a strict directive to its rank-and-file to defend Health Minister Veena George after some party members made critical comments on social media about the Minister’s “style of functioning.” 

The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought to weaponise those comments against Ms. George, who is at the centre of a political storm following a building collapse at the Kottayam Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) last Thursday killed a caregiver and injured two others. 

Public rally in Kottayam

On Sunday, the CPI(M) Pathanamthitta district secretariat reportedly instructed the relevant lower committees to take action against party members responsible for the social media posts. Moreover, it has also announced a mammoth public rally in Kottayam on July 10 to expose what the CPI(M) has termed a Congress-BJP plot to vilify Kerala’s robust and nationally acclaimed public health sector. Later, the party will hold similar meetings at the panchayat level.

Last Friday, CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan accused both parties of politicising the tragic building collapse to paint a dismal picture of State-funded hospitals, thereby aiding private hospitals coral patients. He noted that corporates, with scant regard for medical ethics or patient welfare, had acquired most of the legacy hospitals in the private sector in Kerala. He said the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had invested nearly ₹1,600 crore in State-funded hospitals, including addition of beds, operating theatres, modern diagnostic tools, and super-specialty units, such as liver and kidney transplant departments, to protect the working class from predatory medical practices. He said the patient numbers in government hospitals had increased by 50% since 2021, depriving the private sector of business.

Protests continue

Meanwhile, the tide of protests against Ms. George showed little signs of abating. In Pathanamthitta, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) general secretary Pazhakulam Madhu said party activists would boycott the Minister at public functions. 

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) pushed back against the Congress-BJP “plot to target” Ms. George. The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) said it would take to the streets to protect Ms. George. Cooperation Minister V.N. Vasavan said the CPI(M) could, if the push comes to the shove, organise boycotts against Opposition leaders.