Kottayam: Abraham Thomas, a native of Thuruthy near Changanacherry, has complained that the flag post placed by the CPI in front of the gate of his house situated on MC Road next to the Thuruthy CSI Church is not being removed by the party despite his consistent demand. Mr Thomas raised this issue through a Facebook post maintaining that the flag post was installed by CPI activists in 2015 when he was in Kuwait. He told Deccan Chronicle that he had repeatedly asked the local level leaders of the party to remove the flag post but they refused to do so.
“It is inconvenient for me to move my vehicle outside the gate as the flag post is an obstacle,” Mr Thomas told DC. He said that he had complained to the district collector and the Changanachery DySP but nothing happened. He added that he had consistently raised the issue since he came back from Kuwait a few months ago. He was in Kuwait from 1998 to 2017. However, after the issue got public attention following the Facebook post, the Communist Party of India (CPI) leadership has changed its stand. CPI district secretary C.K. Sasidharan told DC that he had given instructions to the local leaders to remove the flag post.
However, he defended them by maintaining that it was Mr Thomas who changed the construction of the gate of the house. “However, notwithstanding that, I have asked the local leaders to remove it,” he told DC. CPI Vazhapally local committee secretary Shaji George said that the flag post was installed by the party in 2014 ahead of the 22nd party Congress of the CPI. “There was no gate next to the flag post then. The construction was later altered”, he alleged.
