Violence is not agitation: Chief Minister

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Violence is not a substitute for agitation and violence is not agitation, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said.

He was speaking after unveiling a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Central School Attakkulangara here on Thursday. The statue was gifted to the school by the NIMS Heart Foundation.

Agitations launched by some organisations, especially students, often turned violent. It was not rare that some agitations descend to the level of breaking windows, smashing equipment belonging to institutions and destroying public property. Such incidents were not agitations and those behind it were not agitators. They would have to be seen as criminals, he said. Gandhian principles had a lot of relevance even today. Student organisations carry out agitations demanding one thing or the other. The most used method for such agitations was the Gandhian method of satyagraha or dharna, Mr. Achuthanandan said. Mayor C. Jayan Babu distributed learning material to children from 55 schools