THALASSERY: The air was stoic and bereft of any emotional outpouring. The narrow, unpaved bylanes of Kathiroor village, near here, were filled with expectations coupled with untold fears. The brief visit of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday to the house of slain RSS-BJP activist EIamthottathil K Manoj, the latest victim of murder politics allegedly espoused by the CPM in the Kannur belt, and his words thereafter have translated themselves into a morale booster for the Sangh Parivar.
The Union Minister gave a clear message, even when appealing for tolerance and peace, that the politics of violence cannot be approved anymore.
BJP and RSS activists swelled up in the frontyard of Manoj’s house when the Union Minister finally walked through a bylane, flanked by BJP leaders V Muralidharan, P K Krishnadas in the evening.
Rajnath came past a big hoarding in the pocket lane, which proclaimed in red splash all over that the locale is a ‘communist village’.
While making it amply clear that there is no place for violence in the country and ideologically based healthy politics should be the call for all concerned, the Union Minister gave a subtle warning to the CPM and thereby bolstering the confidence of BJP-RSS workers.
Rajnath was told at the outset that the CPM was intolerant to anyone leaving that party and 76 BJP-RSS men have lost their lives since 1968 in the district over political violence and attacks. It was also pointed out that freedom for political work is being denied by the communist party in the area.
Rajnath Singh’s appeal to party activists for peace was also topped with a call for political and cultural organisations to isolate the forces of violence and those following the politics of murder.