Kerala: BJP President Amit Shah holds massive rally in Kannur, blames CPI(M) for violence

BJP President Amit Shah, flagged off BJP's two-week long Jan Raksha Yatra, that will pass through 11 of the 14 districts of Kerala, with an aim to highlight the alleged CPM(I) violence and Muslim extremism.

"This is the chief minister's constituency. The kind of response I saw today, I am confident that the people of Kerala are tired of Communist violence and the latter will have to answer for it," said Amit Shah in an exclusive interview to India Today.

Shah was flanked by leaders of the Bhartiya Janta Party, including Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons Joseph Kannanthanam and state party president K Rajashekharan.

He walked 9 kms after garlanding the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Payyannur, to reach Pilathara, where he addressed a public gathering.

"Whenever Communist governments come to power in Kerala, there are political killings. There is a direct link. The states that see maximum political violence in country - West Bengal, Kerala, Tripura - Communists have governed them from time to time," Shah told India Today.

Shah alleged that the Communist party had given birth to a culture of political violence, and violence and Communists are tied by umbilical cord.

Tomorrow, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will join the yatra for a day in Kannur.

Amit Shah will rejoin the campaign on October 5 again for a day before coming back for it's culmination on October 17 in capital, Thiruvananthapuram.

Shah says he is confident that BJP will sweep 8 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala in 2019.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has accused BJP and RSS of fomenting terror in the state in the name of religion.