Christian priest tried to incite people against 3 Kerala Ministers, alleges CPI(M) Minister

Thiruvananthapuram, July 10 Kerala Education Minister V. Sivankutty on Monday slammed  top Latin Christian priest Eugene Pereira for attempting to "incite" people to stage a protest against a team of three Ministers when they visited a coastal hamlet of this district.

“It is unfortunate that a senior priest was instrumental in inciting the people against us. But since better sense prevailed among the people, they understood the situation and did not fall to the wrong action of the senior priest,” said Sivankutty.

Muthalapozhi on the border of the Thiruvananthapuram district is a popular fish landing centre where a fishing boat capsized this morning in which all the four fishermen had gone missing.

Angry residents took to the streets against the local authorities for not taking any measures to rescue the four missing fishermen.

When the three state ministers who were taking part in an adalath rushed to the site, the angry locals expressed their ire on the delay in the rescue operations.

The locals are up in arms as in the past one decade, at least 65 lives have been lost in the locality due to the "callous" approach of the authorities towards the fisher folk, who have been demanding action from the state government .

Rubbishing the allegation, Pereira said he only tried to placate the agitated people.