A 26-year-old Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh worker was hacked to death by suspected CPI (M) supporters in the politically volatile Kannur district on Saturday after a party member was injured in a bomb attack.
This is the fifth political murder in the district after the Left Front government came to power in Kerala three months ago.
Bineesh was killed by a suspected group of Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers who hurled home-made bombs at him and then attacked him with sharp-edged weapons in Thillankeri village, police said.
Bineesh suffered serious injuries to his head and died in a private hospital. The RSS has called a shutdown in the district to protest the killing.
Bineesh was assaulted two hours after a CPI (M) worker was seriously wounded in a bomb attack allegedly carried out by RSS workers.
The enmity between the two parties in Kannur goes back three decades and has claimed more than 250 lives.
Kannur is to the CPI(M) in Kerala what Nagpur is to the RSS. Feudalism, poverty, a rigid caste system and little development offered the CPI (M) a fertile ground in the district. Bulk of the party’s star leaders including AK Gopalan, EK Nayanar and KPR Gopalan come from this area.
{{/usCountry}}Kannur is to the CPI(M) in Kerala what Nagpur is to the RSS. Feudalism, poverty, a rigid caste system and little development offered the CPI (M) a fertile ground in the district. Bulk of the party’s star leaders including AK Gopalan, EK Nayanar and KPR Gopalan come from this area.
{{/usCountry}}When the RSS started making inroads, tension was bound to rise.
Streets have been bloodied by the cadres of both sides, which blame each other every time a life is lost or a new cycle of violence and revenge killings begin.