The arrest and incarceration of a Youth Congress leader in Kerala over a protest march under non-bailable offences have handed on a platter the opportunity to take on the Pinarayi Vijayan government.

Newly elected Youth Congress state president Rahul Mamkoottathil, 34, was arrested on January 9 in a pre-dawn swoop on his home Pathanamthitta district. Mankoottathil has been facing four cases in connection with a December 20 march to the state secretariat to protest police action against Youth Congress workers who had shown a black flag to the Vijayan-led Nava Kerala Sadas, a state Cabinet tour across the state. On Tuesday, after he got bail in all four cases, Mamkoottathil came out of jail to a rousing reception of party workers.

The arrest has helped the Congress highlight “the oppressive measures adopted by the CPI(M)-led government against those who raise the voice of dissent”. It has also thrust prominence on Mamkoottathil, who is known for acerbic attacks on CPI(M) leadership and the CM. The Youth Congress leader has been the Congress’s voice on primetime TV debates in the state for the last couple of years. Mamkoottathil was elected state Youth Congress president last November. A research scholar in history at Mahatma Gandhi University Kottayam, he earlier served as the organisation’s general secretary.

During the months-long Cabinet tour, the police and workers of the DYFI, the youth wing of CPI(M), were accused of assaulting Youth Congress workers when they displayed black flags at the Cabinet bus. It was during the last leg of the Nava Kerala Sadas that the Youth Congress pushed back with a march to the state secretariat on December 20, which ended up in police action against party workers.

Since then, the Congress has been attacking every action of the police and the home department under Vijayan. Mamkoottathil’s arrest again brought the Congress and Youth Congress workers to the streets in many places, giving new energy for the Opposition to take on the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government. The response to the arrest also forced the Congress-led UDF leadership to come out against the police action against protesters.

On Thursday, Mamkoottathil told the media that the Youth Congress would not back down in its protests against the government. “Youth Congress is taking up the challenge to liberate the people of Kerala from the Vijayan government. This is the beginning of the end of this regime. Even if the police slap stringent offences against me, we won’t withdraw the agitation. Arrests of workers or assaults on them won’t deter us from taking this protest forward,” he said.