Kerala Health Minister Veena George was injured on Wednesday afternoon during a protest at Kannur Railway Station, turning what was meant to be a routine travel plan into a political flashpoint.
The incident happened around 3 p.m. near the ticket counter on the first platform. George had just inaugurated the International Ayurveda Research Centre (IARC) in Kalliad and arrived at the station to board the Vande Bharat Express to Thiruvananthapuram. But members of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) were already there, staging a black flag protest against her.
What followed was tense and chaotic. As protesters raised slogans and tried to get close, a scuffle broke out between them and the security personnel accompanying the minister. In the confusion, George reportedly suffered injuries to her neck and hand. Some accounts suggest she may have been pushed or accidentally hit by an elbow in the crowd. Whatever the exact sequence, the situation escalated quickly enough for her travel plans to be cancelled. She was later taken on a trolley to Kannur District Hospital and admitted to the ICU for observation.
This protest did not happen in isolation. Over the past few weeks, criticism against the Health Minister has been growing, particularly over allegations of medical negligence in government hospitals. A major controversy involves a 51-year-old woman, Usha Joseph, who reportedly lived for five years with surgical forceps left inside her abdomen after a 2021 surgery at Alappuzha Medical College. The shocking nature of that case has triggered protests across Kerala, including earlier black flag demonstrations in places like Thalassery and Payyavoor.
The political reaction to the Kannur incident was immediate and intense. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan visited George in the hospital and strongly condemned the protest, calling it a violent act and an example of dangerous political behavior. CPM State Secretary M.V. Govindan went further, describing it as a pre-planned attack specifically targeting a woman minister.On the other side, Congress leaders and KSU activists rejected these accusations. Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan and senior Congress leader K. Sudhakaran said the protest was democratic and peaceful. They argued that the ruling party was exaggerating the incident for political sympathy and challenged authorities to release CCTV footage from the station to clarify what really happened.
As the debate continues, the incident has only deepened political divisions in Kerala. DYFI and SFI have since organized statewide protest marches, while Speaker A.N. Shamseer, who was present during the scuffle, acknowledged that while protest is a democratic right, unless any form of physical manhandling crosses a line.
In the end, what happened at Kannur is more than just a moment of chaos at a railway station. It reflects the rising political tension in the state, where questions of accountability, protest rights, and political narratives are colliding in full public view.
