Sandeep a victim of CPI(M) infighting: BJP
The Hindu
Surendran says Chief Minister has not blamed RSS for the crime
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran said infighting in the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had culminated in the murder of CPI(M) Peringara local committee secretary P.B. Sandeep Kumar in Thiruvalla.
Mr. Surendran, who sought to distance the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from the crime, said the ongoing regional conferences ahead of the CPI(M) State conference next year had exacerbated the factional fighting for organisational control in the ruling party.
The CPI(M) had attempted to scapegoat the RSS to save its face and stave off public outrage. It felt compelled to protect the veneer of inner-party unity as the CPI(M) headed toward its national congress.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.