SFI attack on professional colleges to help inter-state lobby: Cong

Thiruvananthapuram, July 20 (UNI) The Congress in Kerala today strongly condemned the attack on self-financing professional colleges in the state allegedly by the pro-CPI(M) Students Federation of India (SFI).

It was an attempt to help the educational lobby the other states, which were eyeing on the students from Kerala, in Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala told reporters here.

The counselling for admission to professional colleges would start in Tamil Nadu today and in other southern states in the next week and in this backdrop, the attacks on the self-financing professional colleges could be seen only as an attempt to help the inter-state lobbies, he said.

Noting that the High Court had not stayed the operation of the Kerala Self-Financing Professional Colleges Act, but only directed to maintain status quo with regard to admission and fees for the current academic year, he said the vandalism against the self-financing professional colleges was unwarranted in this context.

The Act itself stipulates that taking capitation fee was punishable, he added.

The SFI, which had said that it would move an appeal in the High Court against the order allowing the managements to go ahead with their admission process, was only trying to take law into their own hands and threaten the court by unleashing such attacks, he alleged.

Through these acts, the SFI had challenged the court order, Mr Chennithala alleged and said this was a threat to democracy. ''The Congress also doubts that the SFI had unleashed terror with the knowledge of Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Education Minister M A Baby. Both these leaders earlier had charges of the SFI,'' he said.

Moreover, the police had not yet visited the professional colleges which were attacked and no action had been taken against the miscreants, Mr Chennithala alleged.

''One of the colleges that was attacked was very near to the official residence of the Chief Minister and the Home Minister and till now no action had been taken,'' he said.

Noting that the government could not deviate from its responsibility of providing security to the life and property of citizens, he charged that the government instead of solving the issues was only trying to aggravate the situation.

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