Congress wants to corner LDF government over Hema revelations

KOCHI: With the LDF government on the defensive following the controversy surrounding the Kafir screenshots and the Hema Commission report, the Congress-led UDF is trying to capitalise on the momentum by launching campaigns and protests to highlight these issues.

UDF leaders believe that the Left government is shielding those named in the Hema Commission report, given the recent formation of a special investigation team and revelations about sexual abuse by women in the film industry, coupled with the mass resignation of AMMA executive committee members.

Opposition leader VD Satheesan accuses the government of protecting perpetrators instead of victims by not incorporating the findings of the Hema committee report in the report of the special investigation team, which comprises seven IPS officers, four of whom are women.

On September 2, the UDF is staging a protest in front of the secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. The UDF wants to draw attention to the anti-women stance of the state government. The UDF is demanding that the actors named in the Hema Commission report be arrested.

The Congress and the UDF are also demanding the resignation of actor-MLA M Mukesh, who is accused of sexual harassment. They are opposing Mukesh’s inclusion in the cinema policy committee and his participation in the proposed film conclave. Both VD Satheesan and senior leader Ramesh Chennithala have said that it is up to Mukesh and the CPM to decide whether he should resign on moral grounds.

“Let him and the CPM decide,” Satheesan told TNIE. He also asked the Prime Minister why no action was taken on the Hema Commission report, which exposed a series of misdeeds, adding that the government had redacted more pages and paragraphs than the State Information Commission had ordered before its publication. Satheesan raised five questions to the Prime Minister on the lack of action on the report.

Earlier, the state leadership of Congress had issued a statement accusing the state government of trying to protect certain individuals by not taking action on the report of the Justice Hema Commission.

“Kerala society expected immediate intervention from the government on the report. But the government chose to shield the guilty,” the KPCC said, criticising Mukesh’s participation in the film conclave and the policy-making committee.

The KPCC also condemned the government’s position that a case is only filed if a formal complaint is received, despite the fact that the report reveals cases of sexual violence and exploitation.