THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On the eve of Narendra Modi Government’s swearing-in, the major question doing the rounds in the state is why the kin of victims of political violence from Kerala have not been invited to the ceremony.
However, those from West Bengal were invited to attend the function. In the wake of reports that kin of victims in West Bengal were invited to the ceremony, the kin of victims of CPM’s political violence across the state, especially Kannur, was eagerly waiting.
It may be noted that the state BJP and the RSS have been running a major campaign across the country on the murder politics practised by the CPM in the state. Even Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was put on the dock in the BJP campaign, with the RSS and the BJP squarely blaming Pinarayi for the politics of murder in Kannur. They also highlighted the fact that Pinarayi was an accused in RSS leader Vadikkal Ramakrishnan’s murder at Thalassery in 1969. This is considered to be the first in a series of political murders carried out by both the organisations.
PK Krishnadas, BJP national executive member and party’s former state chief told Express,” BJP chief Amit Shah had met the family members of party workers who were murdered while he was in Kannur and hence they are not invited to the swearing-in ceremony”. He also clarified that the party leadership has extended the invitation to the families of those party workers murdered in West Bengal for the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi.
RSS leaders from Kannur district- the epicentre of political violence in the state- had visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his office during his first term. They had furnished details regarding the politics of murder in the district. This is considered as another reason why the families of those murdered in political violence have not been invited for the swearing-in as Modi has got all the relevant information on the victims and their families.
BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai told Express “ Party president Amit Shah has already met the families of political murders in Kannur when he had come for the inauguration of the BJP district committee office last year.”
Several senior leaders and cadre of RSS, BJP combine were butchered in Thalassery and surrounding areas of Kannur district and there were expectations that these families will be called to New Delhi to witness the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi.
BJP Kannur district chief P Satyaprakash told Express,” A year ago, a team from Kannur including the families of victims of political murders had met senior BJP leaders in New Delhi including Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Moreover, when party president Amit Shah reached Kannur, these families had an audience with him”. The statement of PK Krishnadas and P Sathyaprakash, two leaders of the BJP, who lived dangerously in Kannur district braving death threats, echoes the sentiments of party cadre and workers regarding the invitation to the swearing-in ceremony.
(With inputs from Arun M in Kochi and M A Rajeev Kumar in Kannur)