The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on December 11.

THE Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the action of the Madhya Pradesh police and administration in preventing the chief minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, from attending a felicitation function in Bhopal.

Pinarayi Vijayan had been invited to a reception hosted by various Malayali organisations in Bhopal on December 10. However, as he was leaving for the meeting, he was advised by police officials not to proceed as some RSS elements were expected to demonstrate outside.

This incident shows how the Madhya Pradesh government acts at the diktat of the RSS. It is also a telling commentary on the state of the law and order machinery which cannot protect a chief minister of another state in its own state capital.