Not since the murder of Marxist rebel T.P. Chandrashekharan in May 2012, has Kerala’s conscience been so shaken as of now. People have reacted in unison to the spate of killings in Kannur since the Left Democratic Front came to power four and a half months ago. If the gruesome hacking of Chandrashekharan had left Malayalis in a stupor, the present killings have had a numbing effect on them. As the Pinarayi Vijayan government stumbles from one hurdle to another, on the political front its rivalry with the Sangh Parivar has taken a bloody turn, with two murders taking place in a span of 48 hours in the killing fields of Kannur. The latest retaliatory murder of a BJP worker took place just a kilometre away from the Chief Minister’s residence in Pinarayi. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also in charge of home affairs, nonchalantly accused the Rasthriya Swayamsevak Sangh of deliberately fomenting trouble in the state with tacit support from Delhi. With the latest murder, the number of deaths in the 146 days of LDF rule has touched eight.
As Kannur tensely waits for the next murder, the body language of both CPM and Sangh Parivar leaders does not hold much hope. Both parties insist that they should not be bracketed together. CPM district secretary P. Jayarajan—himself charged with abetting murders and currently out on bail—said, “The party will ignore those who weigh both CPM and RSS in the same weighing balance.” What he said further is ominous: “We do not have the habit of suffering everything with folded hands.” To which state BJP chief, Kummanom Rajasekharan reacted by saying the utterances are a “clear sign of the party encouraging violence”. He wondered how the Chief Minister, who knew everything that was happening in Kannur, could squarely blame the RSS for the violence. “This triggers suspicion whether he was serious about bringing peace in the area,” he added. There is indeed a lingering doubt in the minds of the people about the seriousness of the LDF government in bringing peace in Kannur. Until around the 1980s, the intensity of the rivalry between the two was not as intense as of now. The RSS was active in the area at the time too. But it is with the advent of the BJP as a political force that has made CPM cagey about its support base. The CPM had absolute control, with “party villages” mushrooming in the Malabar region. Only party people were acceptable here. No outsider was allowed to buy lands. It was said that even marriages were not fixed without the approval of the party. Deshabhimani, the mouthpiece of the CPM, was the only newspaper allowed in these areas. So when the BJP, with the help of the RSS, started making inroads in the region, the CPM felt it had no other option but to unleash its muscle power. Since almost all the families in Kannur have benefited from the party in some way or other, sacrifices from these families were considered a call of duty. It is a painful fact that most of the party “martyrs” are in the age group of 20-25; and invariably unemployed. Added to this is the party protection, especially finance wise, provided to those families who have “sacrificed” their sons to the party cause. With the RSS-BJP too adopting the same tactics, it is natural that political murders have become the norm of the day.
The latest retaliatory murder of a BJP worker took place just a kilometre away from the Chief Minister’s residence in Pinarayi. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also in charge of home affairs, nonchalantly accused the RSS of deliberately fomenting trouble.
It is in this backdrop that the prolonged silence of the Chief Minister regarding peace initiatives cast doubts in the minds of ordinary people. Given the fact that the state CPM, which leads the LDF, is under the total control of the Kannur lobby, some say mafia, this fear is not out of place. The antecedents of all these leaders are also not very encouraging. As the debate over who should first initiate the peace process continues, the BJP points out that RSS sarsangchalak Mohan Bhagwat, during a visit to Kochi last May, just before the elections, had offered to sit with CPM leaders and sort out the issues. But this did not happen, despite CPM too responding favourably, mostly because of the elections and subsequent ministry formation. However, violence erupted in Kannur the very day Pinarayi Vijayan was sworn in and is still continuing in the area. Statistics have become immaterial. What is needed is firm commitment from both sides. A popular Malayalam actor-script writer Srinivasan, who hails from Kannur, has joined issue, opening a virtual debate. Almost everyone agrees with Srinivasan that violence in Kannur will end the day the leaders tell the cadre to stop the killings. But as he himself added: the truth is that the leaders will not do so. What he did not say was that if that happens all the leaders will be jobless. For killing is big business in Kannur and perhaps very soon in other parts of Kerala too.