Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas is one of the latest entrants in the list of celebrities supporting the protests in Delhi.
In an Instagram post, the actor questioned the police action against the protesters, asking, “What did these students do wrong? Did they destroy property? Did they resort to violence?”
He further described the protest as peaceful and suggested that dissent was being crushed by the state.
However, official accounts and multiple media reports paint a very different picture of what unfolded on 20 July 2026.
What began as the CJP’s “Sansad Chalo” march escalated into violent clashes with police near Parliament. According to the Delhi Police, around 15–20 government and police vehicles were vandalised, protesters allegedly breached and damaged barricades around the high-security Parliament area, and more than 100 police personnel sustained injuries while attempting to control the situation.
Multiple FIRs have since been registered, and investigations are underway into those responsible for the violence and destruction of public property. These reported developments contradict actor Tovino Thomas’s rhetorical question suggesting that the protesters had not damaged any property.
By portraying the demonstration as entirely peaceful while omitting allegations of vandalism, attacks on police personnel, and damage to public infrastructure, his statement presents only one side of the events. While the right to peaceful protest is a cornerstone of democracy, it does not extend to violence, assaults on law enforcement personnel, or destruction of taxpayer-funded property.
The Deafening Silence Back Home
However, as Malayalam film industry’s elite took to social media and the streets to voice their concerns over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination, many are asking why similar outrage has not been forthcoming over multiple recruitment scandals unfolding right in their own backyard. Consider this.
The PSC Examination Scandal
The Kerala Public Service Commission is currently facing an existential credibility crisis. A Special Investigation Team led by Crime Branch Inspector General S. Ajeetha Begum is investigating allegations that the digital On-Screen Marking software completely failed during an examination for high-level Planning Board posts, leaving 10 crucial questions worth 58 marks unevaluated. Despite this, a final rank list was released.
The probe has since expanded to look into suspected irregularities in recruitment for the Kerala Administrative Service, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Special Recruitment), Assistant Professors in Law Colleges, and Assistant Information Officer posts. It is alleged that candidates with Leftist affiliations were favoured during the interview processes, with claims that a Principal Secretary refused to follow the PSC Chairman’s alleged directives to award unnaturally high marks to a particular candidate.
ASHA Workers Protest
ASHA workers in Kerala launched an indefinite day-and-night protest in front of the State Secretariat to demand better wages and improved service conditions. Their key demands included increasing the monthly honorarium to ₹21,000, introducing a retirement benefit scheme, releasing pending dues, recognising their long years of service, and providing greater job security. While the Kerala government later announced a ₹1,000 increase in the monthly honorarium, the workers described it as grossly inadequate and continued their agitation, maintaining that the hike fell far short of addressing their core demands. After 266 days in November 2025, the Secretariat protest concluded with a pledge rally, but the workers announced that the agitation would continue in different forms until their major demands were fulfilled.
A Double Standard?
The Malayalam film industry’s thunderous outrage over Delhi police action stands in stark contrast to its silence on Kerala’s own scandals. While actors, filmmakers, and writers flood social media condemning the Union Education Minister, not a single prominent voice has questioned the Kerala PSC’s alleged manipulation of examinations or the fake degree racket that has stolen opportunities from thousands of Kerala’s youth. The same celebrities who invoke democracy and compare Delhi to Nazi Germany have nothing to say about answer sheet destruction or recruitment corruption in their own state.
It is clear that progressive credentials are convenient when they target the Centre, but inconvenient when they would require criticising the powers that be in Kerala. For the state’s unemployed youth, the silence speaks louder than any placard.
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