Deliberate falsifications

This report gives the impression that NDF and RSS worked together to jointly attack the police station. But in the end, when the report says CPM and IUML are trying to resolve the conflict between the parties I realised that there was some clashes between the two groups. Funny, only a few days ago, CPM and IUML were fighting against each other.

The Hindu : Front Page : Strong action against NDF, RSS: Kodiyeri

Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said here on Sunday that the recent attack on the Kottakkal police station by National Development Front (NDF) activists was the only such incident after the 1972 naxalite attacks. The Government has, therefore, viewed it with utmost seriousness, he said. Mr. Balakrishnan congratulated the police officers who foiled the attack and said they would be duly rewarded. Had the attack not been thwarted, it would have been a humiliation for the police, he said. He said 22 people were arrested in connection with 11 attack cases in the district. Action would be initiated against more people who aided the attackers, he said. A special squad of the police led by the Crime Detachment Deputy Superintendent of Police would investigate the killing of Lakshmanan at Othukkungal and the attack on Hameed at Parappanangadi, he said. The police had already arrested some Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers in connection with the attack on Hameed. The Home Minister said the financial sources of the communal forces, including the NDF and the RSS, would be investigated. Mr. Balakrishnan said strong action would be initiated against those giving armed training for communal attacks in the district. All organisations engaged in physical training would be under surveillance, he said. He said leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Indian Union Muslim League had initiated dialogues to end political clashes between the two parties along the coastal region. A meeting of local political leaders held under his chairmanship on Sunday decided to work together, if needed, to restore peace in the region.

Having read The Chindu long enough, I know that I need to read other newspapers to get the true picture. Here are a couple of links which tell me what happened.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=India&month=March2007&file=World_News20070323104759.xml

Tension prevailed in the coastal areas of Malappuram following the Wednesday midnight attack on the police station at Kottakkal by some 35 NDF activists after the police took into preventive custody NDF State chairman Abdul Rahman Baqvi and former chairman A Sayeed.

The coastal Tirur and Tanur in the district have been witnessing frequent clashes involving the NDF and RSS ever since the killing of Ravi, an RSS worker and third accused in the murder of Yasir Vakkom, on January 20. In retaliation, one Mohammed Ali has been killed.

http://www.keralaonline.com/news/news.php?news=1975

More than 25 National Development Front(NDF) activists were arrested on Thursday morning in connection with the attack on the Kottakkal police station.

More than 300 NDF activists, who gathered in front of the police station here around at 2 a.m. on Thursday, demanding the release of their leader A.Sayeed, later pelted stones at the building and damaged vehicles parked in the compound, police said.

NDF Chairman Abdurahman Bakhafi, A. Sayeed and some RSS leaders were taken into preventive custody by the police in the district following an attack on Abdul Hameed, an NDF activist as well as a journalist.

So, it turns out that there are clashes between the muslim fundamentalist NDF and the RSS. But the attack on the police station was completely an act of the Islamic radicals of NDF. Some RSS activists have been arrested as a preventive measure. But The Chindu has given a wonderful twist to the events relying of half-facts and deliberately twisting it to suit its political agenda. It has deliberately underplayed the equally potent clashes between CPI(M) and IUML in the past. Now it is trying to project them as peace-seekers.