Turf war between Marxists and saffronites claims innocent lives in the killing fields of Kannur

Image courtesy: www.imgarcade.info

When Kerala was in the thick of Onam celebrations, two sensational political murders of a CPM worker in Kasargode and a BJP man in Thrissur, shook the public conscience. The murders triggered a spate of violent incidents involving the two parties across the state, keeping the Government and the police machinery on tenterhooks.

Political enmity between the CPM and the BJP dates back to the sixties when BJP/RSS started making inroads into the CPM bastions in Kannur district. In the past five decades, at least 400 people from both the CPM and BJP have succumbed to the political violence in Kannur district and many more are living a vegetable existence, after being injured in related incidents. In most cases, the victims were the poor breadwinners of their families.

Both sides unleash violence in the most brutal manner. Cold-blooded murder is committed in front of immediate family members. A teacher was stabbed to death in the classroom in full view of his students. Limbs are cut off and doused in coal tar to prevent the severed body parts from being stitched back surgically. The carcasses of slain dogs were hung on the spot of the murder of a party activist on the day of his death anniversary!

Image courtesy: www.wikimedia.org and  www.wallpaperssfree.com
Image courtesy: www.wikimedia.org and www.wallpaperssfree.com

Violence usually escalates when CPM is in power in Kerala. In Kannur there exist what is called `CPM villages’ and `RSS villages’ where the rival groups hold absolute sway. Neither the successive Governments in the state nor the judiciary could do anything worthwhile to end the scourge of violence. Two BJP MPs Om Birla and Nalin Kumar Kateel visited the trouble-torn areas in the district recently and said they would take up Kannur violence at the national level.

Of late, the feud between the two parties is further fuelled by a series of developments. After he took over as BJP President, Amit Shah could energise the BJP/RSS cadres in Kerala, which is reflected in the massive surge in BJP membership in Kerala. After a couple of visits made to Kerala, Shah succeeded in dissolving the differences between the BJP and RSS and forge better ties between them.

Large number of CPM cadres are now deserting the party and joining the BJP especially in Kannur district. The erosion takes place mainly from the dominant Ezhava community, which has been the mainstay of CPM’s support base in Kerala. Reports of a possible tie-up between the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam(SNDP) representing the Ezhava community and the BJP in Kerala, have sent shock waves among CPM leaders.

The CPM is unnerved by the steady expansion of BJP vote share in Kerala. The surge in the BJP’s vote share in the recent by-election in Aruvikkara Assembly constituency was a rude shock to the CPM leadership. The CPM believes that the rise in BJP vote share is caused by desertion of Ezhava voters from the CPM. CPM leaders realise that it would be disastrous for the party if the SNDP Yogam comes closer to the BJP and as a result desert the CPM. Ironically, the majority of those who died in the violence unleashed by  the CPM and the BJP in Kannur district, belonged to the Ezhava community.

To attract and retain Hindu voters, CPM is allowing party workers to observe popular Hindu festivals such as Ganesholsav and Sri krishna Jayanthi, which hitherto have been the exclusive preserve of the RSS. If unchecked, this would spill more blood in the killing fields of Kannur.

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