Kerala’s Left Front government plans to give “good service entry” to the police personnel who provided security to its recently concluded outreach programme Nava Kerala Sadas, which saw large-scale violence by the state and the CPM against peaceful protesters.

The police had, assisted by cadres from the CPM youth and student wings, brutally stubbed out all protests against the “Cabinet on Wheels”, a novel attempt by the government to reach out to the people and listen to their grievances across the state.

Now the state government will reward the police personnel involved with promotions and cash awards.

Many current Left Front leaders, including chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and some of his cabinet colleagues, are known to have led violent agitations themselves or encouraged party workers to engage in violence in the past, especially against Congress governments of the day. State capital Thiruvananthapuram has been witness to many such violent protests.

The Left government’s move to reward the police has stumped many. A seasoned journalist has recalled how the late Jyoti Basu had, as home minister in the Ajoy Mukherjee-led United Front government in Bengal in 1969-70, refused to order his police to put down a farmers’ agitation in the wake of the Naxalbari uprising.

Chief minister Vijayan holds charge of the home department, too. His own gunman, who had led the quelling of the protests from the front, will be among those rewarded for their “exemplary service”.

Congress leader V.D. Satheesan has described the government move as a “cruel mockery” of the Opposition’s agitation. The Congress has accused the chief minister of challenging the common sense of the people.

But Vijayan has endorsed the actions of the police and party cadres by describing them as a “rescue operation”. He has claimed that the black-flag demonstrators were part of “suicide squads” sent by the Opposition to spoil the government programme.

He has been insistent that his party cadres had only tried to “save the lives of the protesters” who had tried to jump in front of the bus in which he and his ministers were travelling.

However, TV images make it clear that the black-flag demonstrators were beaten up with iron rods and helmets. A man was seen smashing a planter on a protester’s head.

The chief minister has refused to acknowledge these visuals. He switched off his mike and abruptly ended a news conference when a reporter broached the visuals.

Vijayan’s justification of the police action and his repeated claims of “bravery” in the past, such as walking among drawn swords, have emboldened party cadres to attack Congress workers with added vigour.

Touted as a government programme, the 36-day, state-wide yatra by the entire cabinet turned out to be a political exercise by the CPM ahead of the general election.

Other than addressing public meetings, the chief minister and his colleagues found time only to meet handpicked individuals, mostly from the upper strata of society, thereby creating a new class in the state.

The Left Front had won just one of the 20 Lok Sabha seats from the state in 2019.