LDF flags international plot to undermine Vizhinjam port completion

Police deny NIA evincing interest in Sunday’s Vizhinjam station attack or involvement of radical Islamist entities in the violence that left 35 law enforcers injured

The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) has pointedly flagged an international conspiracy to thwart the Vizhinjam port construction.

LDF convener E.P. Jayarajan has demanded an inquiry to reveal the plotters “hell-bent on denying Kerala its rightful place on the global trade map” to advantage other foreign entities.

He said the Vizhinjam port, with its abundant natural advantages, would propel Kerala into a period of unprecedented development and commercial import.

In Kozhikode, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] district secretary K. Mohanan echoed a similar view. He said the attempts to blockade the project site had the makings of a deep-rooted and multinational plot.

Such investigations that span different States and countries were usually the purview of Central agencies, giving rise to media speculation that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the country’s prime anti-terrorist outfit, had evinced interest in the Vizhinjam police station attack by anti-port agitators on Sunday.

An official said an NIA inspector’s visit to Vizhinjam had triggered the media speculation. The government has not registered any case under UAPA concerning the station house attack. Officials also said there was no evidence, so far, of the involvement of any radical Islamist group in Sunday’s violence, as suggested by some sections of the media.