Anti-saffron violence spurs Amit Shah to launch yatra in Kerala

NEW DELHI/KANNUR: After launching a `Jan Sandesh Yatra' from Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, on the father of the nation's birth anniversary on Monday , BJP president Amit Shah is headed to Kerala to launch another yatra on Tuesday to "raise consciousness" on alleged political violence against BJP-RSS cadres and the growing number of Islamic radicals in the coastal state.

Shah will walk for three days from October 3-5 after flagging off the `Jan Raksha Yatra' in Payyanur in Kannur district, which has witnessed the maximum political violence in the state.

The yatra is being flagged off from Payyanur, where BJP worker V Ramakrishnan was killed allegedly by CPM supporters in 1969. The 14-day yatra will conclude in state capital Thiruvananthapuram where Shah will rejoin on October 17 and address a rally .

"CPM supporters have killed 124 RSS-BJP workers of which 84 have been killed in Kannur, the home district of the state chief minister," HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said at a press conference on Monday . He said CPM in Kerala was no more Communist Party Marxist but had become Communist Party Maoist.