New Delhi/ Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 20 — From daring his political adversaries to seeking protection from arrest before the Supreme Court, the contrast in Pinarayi Vijayan’s positions has come into sharp focus as the 82-year-old CPI(M) leader faces legal challenges in the CMRL-Exalogic case.
His petition will be heard on Wednesday, and all eyes are on it.
In 2017, Vijayan, then Kerala Chief Minister, delivered a fiery speech at a political rally in Mangalore, targeting the RSS and recalling the threats he had faced.
“Then, I had walked amidst the knives you had drawn out and amidst the swords you held up. When you couldn’t do anything to me during those times, what do you think you are going to do to me today?” he had declared, projecting an image of fearlessness and political defiance.
Nearly a decade later, the former Chief Minister finds himself invoking the protection of the law against the possibility of arrest.
In his appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the Kerala High Court Division Bench order upholding the direction to register an FIR in the CMRL-Exalogic case, his senior counsel Siddharth Luthra reportedly told the court: “An 82-year-old man facing possible arrest. We are seeking protection from arrest or any other coercive action. It is a matter of liberty.”
Vijayan, named as the first accused in the case, has challenged the High Court order directing an investigation into payments made by Kochi-based Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd to Exalogic Solutions, the now-defunct IT company owned by his daughter, T. Veena.
The contrast is particularly striking given Vijayan’s continued political activity despite his age.
Earlier this month, he travelled to Delhi to participate in a protest and was detained by Delhi Police for around eight hours, spending part of the time in a police vehicle and the remainder at a police station.
Seeking legal protection is a legitimate exercise of the right to personal liberty and does not imply guilt. Yet, the contrast between his combative political rhetoric and the plea now advanced in court offers a telling glimpse of the different challenges confronting a leader long associated with political defiance.
The immediate test, however, lies in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, where the legal battle could determine the next course of the investigation.