Union Minister Arun Jaitley addressing the media in Trivandrum, Kerala. (Source: ANI)
Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday alleged that Kerala has always witnessed a spike in political violence under the CPI-M led LDF regime, insisting that the onus lies on the state government to ensure perpetrators of heinous crimes are brought to justice. “Every time the LDF comes to power, the incidents of violence increase. The political opponents are killed in a most brutal and barbaric manner,” Jaitley said while addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.
Earlier in the day, Jaitley met family members of slain RSS worker Rajesh Edavakode, who was allegedly hacked to death by CPI(M) workers on July 29. “The kinds of wounds inflicted on Rajesh would have embarrassed even terrorists,” the Union Minister said.
However, the ruling party has vehemently denied the charge made by the BJP. The CPI(M) has claimed that the RSS-BJP combine was spreading a false propaganda on the issue of political violence.
“Let’s assume if the kind of political violence in Kerala had taken place in BJP or NDA ruled state, what would’ve happened,” asked Union Finance Minister Jaitley, adding: “Awards would have been returned, parliament would not have been allowed to function and campaigns would have been carried out within and outside country.”
Jaitley further said environment of violence will not come to an end until and unless police conduct a fair probe into such incidents. He also expressed hope that state government will take strict action against recurrence of any such incident. “Political will and determination by state government needed to discipline its own cadres rather than let them loose on political opponents,” said Jaitley.
The state has been witnessing a series of violence involving workers of BJP-RSS and CPI-M with the capital district rocked by incidents of attacks on houses of rival partymen in the past few days. Ahead of Jaitley’s visit, the CPI(M) had organised a dharna by the relatives of 21 party workers allegedly killed by RSS-BJP activists in the district and demanded that Jaitley should visit them also.
After meeting the family of murdered RSS worker, Jaitley had said: “Visited the family of our deceased karyakarta Rajesh, who was slaughtered in the most barbaric manner. This kind of violence will neither suppress ideology in Kerala nor it will be able to scare our workers. It will only increase their determination to work harder against those who are perpetuating this operation.”
“He belonged to the weaker section of the society. . Rajesh belonged to a poor family and now his family has no means of a livelihood. He was stabbed mercilessly and there were 70-80 wounds inflicted on his body, even enemies would not be as brutal as those involved in the murder. In the past few months party officers are being attacked, our workers are being attacked and their houses are being set ablaze,” Jaitley added.
Incidentally, Jaitley’s visit coincides with the all-party meeting convened by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan later in the day to ease out the political tensions in the state.
With inputs from ANI, PTI
