Will rivals smoke the peace pipe?
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The bloody Marxist-Saffron clashes are back to God’s Own Country after a lull—this time spreading their tentacles to the state capital too.Back-to-back political clashes across the state and the recent killing of a RSS worker in Thiruvananthapuram have brought national attention to the Left-ruled Kerala again. The killing fields of political violence seem to have come back to haunt the state.
The RSS has demanded imposition of President’s Rule in the state drawing flak from a united Left Front.
Sunday would be most crucial as an all-party meet called by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is scheduled in the evening, while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is all set to visit a slain RSS worker’s house in the morning.
The latest series of violence in the state capital last week included a midnight attack on BJP’s state headquarters and an attack on CPI(M) state secretary’s house. The CCTV visuals at the BJP headquarters showed the graphic details of the attack where four Left Front workers including a CPI(M) counsellor engaged in violence. Acting swift, the government suspended two policemen and ordered to arrest 11 activists including the four Left Front workers. An embarrassed CPI(M) soon suspended the four workers.
However, the real game changed when Governor P Sathasivam summoned Vijayan and state police chief Loknath Behera to Raj Bhavan to assess the scenario. Not to be left behind, he also tweeted about summoning the CM, leaving the state government and the Left Front in a spot.
The next day, Vijayan called a meeting of CPI(M) and BJP-RSS state leaders. Curiously, he took his anger against the media and ordered them out from the venue. However, the bilateral talks gave way for three more of the same nature in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Kannur.In what appears to be a positive sign, both the Left Front and Sangh Parivar forces have resolved to stay away from violence and arrived at an understanding to exhort the grass-root leaders to stay away from violence. CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan says the decision has been taken to create awareness among the party workers at the lower level.
“The CPI(M) is committed to ensuring peace and will follow the decisions taken at the meeting,” he said. A serious and determined approach from the Marxist and Saffron parties in offing coupled with some sincere efforts by the state government may end to the political violence in the state, at least for the time being.