KASARGOD: A 16-year-old girl’s impassioned video post alleging CPM members are threatening to kill her father for joining the BJP has gone viral on social media, and put the Marxist party on the defensive.
C K Ashwini, a Class XI student of Government Higher Secondary School, Chayyoth, near Nileshwaram, said she had no choice but to go public “to save the life of my father”.
Her father, C K Sukumaran of Kayyeni in Karinthalam village - a CPM bastion - joined BJP on January 30 at a function attended by party state president Kummanam Rajasekharan. He clicked photographs with the leader and posted them on Facebook.
“Since then, I have been threatened by CPM men in Karinthalam,” he said.
“On February 5, when I was walking home with my daughter, four men waylaid me at Karinthalam Junction and threatened to publicly hack me to death,” he said. “The incident rattled my daughter. Scarred her,” he said. Ashwini said the men were graphic in their words.
“They told my father his legs and arms would be chopped off in public for joining BJP. They said they were not scared of the police or even if they were caught on CCTV cameras.”
“Every day, my father and I walk together to the bus stop in the morning. In the evening, he would be at the stop waiting for me,” she said. “But after he joined BJP, it has become difficult for him to come to Karinthalam.” Sukumaran said he telephoned the CI and told him about the threat on February 1, but no action had been taken.
“On Thursday, we gave a complaint to the DySP Kanhangad. But till now no case has been registered,” he said. Ashwini in her video post and Sukumaran in his police complaint had named Mahesh, Sujith, Sajith, and Saneesh of Karinthalam of being behind the public threat.
Now, the CPM had moved to socially ostracise him and his family, he alleged.
BJP, CPM spar over video
The BJP said the incident exposed the intolerance of CPM and servitude of the police to the party. “When such an incident happens, the police should act swiftly. But here they have not even registered a case,” said BJP district president K Shreekanth. “The refusal of the police to act validates what Ashwini said in the video that the culprits were not afraid of the police or law,” he said.
The CPM district leadership said it was not aware of the incident. When contacted, the CPM district secretary M V Balakrishnan said he had not seen the video nor was he aware of the issue. “I will get back with details,” he said.
Kinanur-Karinthalam panchayat president Vidhubala A said BJP was using the girl to score political brownie points. “It is very clear from the video the girl has been tutored by her father. We can see him peeking from the edge of the door,” she said.
Vidhubala said Sukumaran was living there "for the past 50 years" and a known party-hopper. "He was first with the Congress, then became rationalist and later joined CPI(ML), an extreme Left organisation. Why would we have a problem now if he is joining the BJP?" she said.
She said whatever be the motive of the father and the BJP, they should not have used the child to make political gains.