CPI(M), RSS workers hacked to death in Kerala’s Kannur

North Kerala’s Kannur district, notorious for red-saffron clashes, erupted again on Tuesday, claiming two lives. A CPI(M) worker was stabbed to death in Payyanur in wee hours and later an RSS worker was killed in similar fashion.

Two workers belonging to the CPI(M) and BJP were killed on Tuesday Night in Kerala’s Kannur, a district notorious for red-saffron clashes.

A CPI(M) worker and an RSS worker were hacked to death in Kannur. (HT File Photo)

A CPI(M) worker was stabbed to death in Payyanur in wee hours and later an RSS worker was killed in similar fashion.

Their houses were attacked and they were stabbed in front of their relatives, the police said. CPI(M) worker Dhanraj (32) was killed first, hours later C K Ramachandran, an auto-rickshaw driver was stabbed to death. Both CPI(M) and RSS-BJP blamed each other for the fresh bout of violence. Both RSS and CPI(M) had called a shutdown in Payannur and surrounding areas.

Notorious for spiralling cycle of violence between two-cadre based parties, the district had witnessed at least 200 killings in last two decades. Many maimed and crippled, victims of political clashes, roam around here as a sad reminder of politics of intolerance.

When it comes to ideology and retaliation, both RSS and CPM, outsmart each other in precision and planning.

Here the two cadre-based parties virtually compete to create martyrs and build colourful columns over bodies of their dead workers. The area is dotted with innumerable concrete sickles, ‘oms’ and lotus. They have no qualm in displaying their memorials and they nurture ‘killing squads’ to equal their ‘goals,’ a term used in local parlance to settle political scores. A missing flag, defacing of party wall or damage to a bus shelter in the name of a martyr are enough to ignite a fresh round of violence.