NEW DELHI: BJP president Amit Shah lashed out at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after an RSS worker was hacked to death in the temple town of Guruvayur today, and asked what his government was doing to "curb criminal elements" in the ranks of his CPI(M).
Twenty-three-year-old Anandan was attacked with swords and knives in broad daylight allegedly by CPI(M) workers at Nenmeni in Guruvayur this afternoon when he was riding a motorcycle. Anandan died soon after.
"The continuous violence by CPM workers & the protection to such political killings is now before the nation. CM Pinarayi must explain what his govt is doing to curb criminal elements in his rank(sic)," Shah tweeted.
Anandan, hailing from Brahmakulam, was an accused in a case relating to the murder of a CPI(M) worker in 2013.
The BJP has alleged that as many as 120 of its workers, 84 in Kannur alone, have been killed in Kerala since 2001. It has claimed that 14 of these killings have taken place since Pinarayi Vijayan took over the reins of the government last year.
Shah undertook a 15-day 'Jan Raksha Yatra' in Kerala last month to target the state's CPI(M) government over a "killing spree" against BJP and RSS workers.