KANNUR: Coming down heavily on the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state government, BJP national president Amit Shah flagged off the Jana Raksha Yathra, a march being taken out to uphold the rights of people to live peacefully, led by state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, at Payyannur on Tuesday.
Shah unleashed a flurry of allegations against the CPM for the ‘unrest’ prevailing in the state. “Pinarayi is responsible for the political killings. He should take responsibility as the blood stains of democracy are there on his dress,” Shah said. “BJP and RSS activists are being hunted down as the CPM is writing the history of Kerala soaked in blood.
The CPM should remember BJP supporters in the state are not alone in their fight. Eleven crore BJP members all over India are with them,” Shah said amidst loud cheers from the crowd.
“Whenever the CPM comes to power, political killings in the state go up,” he said. He alleged the CPM had adopted violence as its ideology and intolerance towards other parties was disturbing the peaceful atmosphere of the state.
“The BJP has lost so many activists in various CPM attacks in the state,” Shah said. “Of the 120 people who lost their lives, 84 are from Kannur. The Chief Minister should answer for these killings as he is responsible for all of them. Communism is fast losing its relevance universally and it is quite the same in India too.” “The BJP is growing strong and has expanded its influence to 80 per cent of the country. The BJP is committed to the cause of maintaining peace in the state. We will continue our fight till we win,” he said. It was a calculated assault by the master strategist as he left out the Congress and focused his rage on their main rival in their own den.
As the Congress had suffered a humiliating defeat in the last Assembly election in 2016, and has been in a disintegrated state since then, the BJP think-tank senses an opportunity to become the number two party in the district. If they can make inroads into the Left fortress as the main Opposition, that would be a major stepping stone to spread their vote base in North Kerala. As part of the march, the BJP will take out a padayathra to the AKG Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday. Shah inaugurated the march by handing over the flag to Kummanam, who is the captain of the march.
Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam, MPs Suresh Gopi, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Richard Hay and Nalin Kumar Kateel, O Rajagopal MLA, V Muraleedharan, C K Padmanabhan and M T Ramesh, along with other prominent leaders participated in the meeting.A photo exhibition of BJP-RSS activists killed owing to political violence in the district over the years was arranged near the stage. Shah paid floral tributes to the victims before getting on to the stage. Later, he joined the Janarakshayathra and walked with Kummanam and thousands of BJP activists from Payyannur to Pilathara.