In a show of ‘communist-tolerance’, leftist goons ambushed a Nobel laureate in Kerala. Michael Levitt was blocked in the backwaters of the state for hours by trade union activists, who were on a nationwide strike against the Central government. The goons belonging to Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU) blocked the houseboat of Levitt, their extremist ways petrified the Nobel laureate to say that he felt as if a bandit had stopped his wife and him at gunpoint.
Michael Levitt, an American-British-Israeli biophysicist and a professor of structural biology at the Stanford University in the United States, said the incident sent a bad message to tourists. A houseboat occupied by Nobel laureate Michael Levitt and his wife Shoshan was stopped in the backwaters (Lagoons) in Alapuzzha by CITU supporters during the strike.
Ironically, Levitt, who was awarded Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2013, was visiting Kerala as a state guest for a lecture series.
After witnessing the hooliganism of the leftists, He wrote to tour operator Kence George, “Being stopped by criminals on the Kerala backwaters sends a very bad message to tourists. It is as if a bandit stopped us at gunpoint and delayed us under threat of force for one hour. These persons, who did this, ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted and that I am a VIP guest of the Kerala government. He (goon) is obviously acting knowing that he is safe from prosecution. Sadly, this makes me fear that India is sinking into lawlessness.’’ The couple boarded the houseboat Tuesday evening from Kumarakam near Kottayam and it was intercepted by CITU supporters at R block region in Vembanad lake Wednesday morning.
Confirming the hooliganism of the leftist goons and the collaboration of the state government, staff on the boat stated, “Four persons from CITU forcibly anchored the boat. We told them the tourists are government guests and the tourism industry was exempt. But, they did not heed. They released the boat after political higher-ups intervened.”
Interestingly, State Tourism Minister in the communist government, Kadakampally Surenderan termed it a “highly deplorable” act. “I tender an apology for the inconvenience caused to him.’’
The impact of the strike called by the leftist trade unions was such that even the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other ministers also did not attend office. Banking operations also took a hit as most of the PSU bank branches remained shut. A majority of the 1200 banks of the State Bank of India (SBI) in Kerala were shut. Normal life was badly affected in left-ruled Kerala, with the public transport services keeping off the roads and banking services hit during the 24-hour nation-wide labour union strike in the state on Wednesday. Forced bandhs and hooliganism are the basic elements of the functioning of the communist regime in ‘Kerala- the god’s own country’.