The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Friday demanded an enquiry into what it termed “systematic political murders” of its cadre, allegedly by Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists in Kerala, saying the inquiry should be under judicial oversight.
Dattatreya Hosbale, joint general secretary of the RSS, said this at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday. “The Kerala government should fulfil its constitutional responsibilities and check this political violence. There should be a judicial inquiry by either a judge of a High Court or Supreme Court into the murder of RSS activists in the State,” he said. He stopped short of demanding that Central rule be imposed in the State. He said: “The Kerala government should take action. The people of the State feel that law and order has broken down, and we support it if there is a demand from the people,” he said, evading a direct answer to the question.
Mr. Hosabale’s news conference comes in the same week that RSS worker Rajesh was hacked to death in Thiruvananthapuram and three top leaders of the RSS — Mr. Hosabale himself, Suresh “bhaiyyaji” Joshi and Krishn Gopal — met BJP president Amit Shah on the issue.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will visit Kerala and the home of the deceased, Rajesh, while there.
Terming the behaviour of the CPI(M) in Kerala “Communist Talibanism”, Mr. Hosabele claimed that 14 RSS workers had been killed since October 2016. He also said it wasn’t just RSS workers; many Congress workers also had been killed, allegedly by the CPI(M) cadre. The RSS also showed a short video, allegedly of a CPI(M) “flag march” where the RSS cadre were being threatened.
Asked about CPI(M) cadre who too had been killed, allegedly by RSS men, Mr. Hosabale said it was in retaliation. “There may have been some retaliation, it is human, but we are not defending our people, they are facing cases and some are serving time,” he said. “The killings are not an issue between only the RSS and the CPI(M). There have been people from the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League who have also been killed in the past,” he said.
He said he was not convinced by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s “peace talks.” “We will participate of course, just as we did when Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer tried to mediate in the past as did Shri M, but we don’t feel much will happen.” On whether he expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, both swayamsewaks, to crack down on the matter, he said: “yes they are both swayamsewaks and I leave it to their vivek (judgement).”