Tension gripped the politically volatile Thalasserry and Pannur areas in the northern district of Kannur on Sunday after a CPM worker and a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist were stabbed to death in two separate incidents.
An RSS worker and his mother were also injured in the Kathiroor area of Kannur allegedly by CPM activists while crude bombs were thrown at a police jeep allegedly by BJP-RSS workers near Pannur.
CPM worker Ravindran was fatally wounded by suspected BJP-RSS workers on Saturday night. In a midnight reprisal, RSS activist K. Babu was hacked to death allegedly by CPM workers.
Enough blood has been spilled in the land of the traditional martial art Kalari Payattu. The big warriors are not around any more but many maimed people roam around here as a grim reminder of the prevailing political intolerance. Last year, the Kerala High Court had described Kannur as a “place where manslaughter is a compelling sport”.
The eye-for-an-eye battle between the two cadre-based organisations, the CPM and RSS, has claimed more than 100 lives over the past decade. Both camps nurture villages and killer squads. Even the police fear to enter party-controlled villages. And in some areas, bomb-making is like a cottage industry. The CPM says it’s targeted for protecting the minorities while the RSS-BJP combine says it is not allowed to function freely.
{{/usCountry}}The eye-for-an-eye battle between the two cadre-based organisations, the CPM and RSS, has claimed more than 100 lives over the past decade. Both camps nurture villages and killer squads. Even the police fear to enter party-controlled villages. And in some areas, bomb-making is like a cottage industry. The CPM says it’s targeted for protecting the minorities while the RSS-BJP combine says it is not allowed to function freely.
{{/usCountry}}“We were never allowed functional freedom. If the CPM thinks sincerely, then the violence can be stopped in a day,” claimed P.K. Krishnadas of the RSS-BJP combine. But CPM Kannur district secretary P. Sasi said: “The BJP-RSS always foment trouble. We are peace-loving people.”
Amidst the claims and counter-claims, the orgy of violence continues. And until the politics of hatred and annihilation are not cast aside, Kannur will remain a blot on the civilized world.