(Image tweeted by @myogiadityanath)

Kerala: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath joined the "Jana Raksha Yatra" or "March for People's Protection" on Wednesday, a day after BJP President Amit Shah launched it on Tuesday from Payyannur in Kannur district.

"There is no place for violence in a democracy, but political killings are continuing here," he told the media. He said that the yatra was a mirror for communist governments in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura that should immediately put an end to political killings.

The UP Chief Minister asserted that violence under Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's goverment is increasing and is encouraging an environment of jihadi terrorism in the state.



Union Minister of State (Finance) Shivprasad Shukla, Kerala superstar and BJP MP Suresh Gopi and party General Secretary Arun Singh are among those taking part in the yatra.

The march, a show of strength by the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), will pass through 11 of the 14 districts in Kerala and end in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17 when Shah will be present again.


The BJP, which has just one member in the 140-seat Kerala Assembly, is highlighting the issue of political killings through this Yatra.

While inaugurating the Yatra, Shah launched a scathing attack on Kerala's ruling LDF, saying Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was to blame for the murders of BJP and RSS workers in the state.

An aggressive Shah said that as many as 120 BJP and RSS workers had been murdered in Kerala since 2001 and asked the CPI-M-led LDF government to let the people know who was responsible for the killings.

Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari said that the RSS and BJP workers were being selectively murdered in Kerala.

"An atmosphere of terror is being created in order to finish the spirit of nationalism under a conspiracy. When terrorists are killed by the army, then so called custodians of human rights raise hue and cry. But when BJP workers, who are supporters of a nationalistic thinking, are brutally killed, then the silence of these so-called custodians of human rights becomes dangerous for the country," he said.