Kerala: Tension grips Kannur after RSS worker stabbed multiple times

RSS-BJP leaders blamed the ruling CPI(M) for the attack, but the CPI(M) district leadership denied any role in the attack.

A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker was waylaid and stabbed multiple times by unidentified men in Kannur district’s Kathiroor on Tuesday night, fuelling tension in the region notorious for red-saffron clashes.

P Praveen, an RSS mandalam karyavah, was attacked by a gang wearing masks when he was returning from work, according to police. (HT FILE PHOTO)

P Praveen, an RSS mandalam karyavah, was attacked by a gang wearing masks when he was returning from work, according to police.

Praveen suffered multiple stab wounds and was taken to the Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, where his condition is said to be critical.

RSS-BJP leaders blamed the ruling CPI(M) for the attack.

Accusing the party of resorting to mindless violence to divert attention from the failure of governance, BJP’s Kannur district president Sathyaprakash said at least six workers were injured in similar attacks in the past two months.

However, the CPI(M) district leadership denied any role in the attack.

Kannur is infamous for clashes between the Communists and RSS-BJP, known as red-saffron, and has claimed the lives of more than 200 people in the last three decades. The bloody violence has over time spread to other parts of the state.

Recently, BJP president Amit Shah had led a statewide protest to bring to national limelight the alleged attack on the party’s cadres by Left activists.

In the bloody saga of gore and revenge, it is apparent that party leaders are fast losing their grip on marauding cadres who are intoxicated with their ideology.