Kerala witnessing politically sponsored violence under ‘misrule of CPM’: Yogi Adityanath 

Uttar Pradesh state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, center, waves as he joins a rally led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kerala state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, left, at Keechari in Kannur, India, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017. (AP Photo)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday alleged that Kerala is witnessing politically sponsored violence under the “misrule of the CPI(M)”. “There is no scope for political violence in a democracy but unfortunately Kerala, God’s own land, is witnessing politically sponsored violence,” said Adityanth, who landed in Kannur’s Keecheri to voice his protest against the CPI(M) for allegedly targeting BJP workers in the state.

Adityanath was flanked by Kerala BJP unit president Kummanam Rajashekharan in the seven-kilometre Jan Raksha Yatra. “With this yatra we will make people aware about the misrule of the CPI(M). People are also coming out in huge numbers in support of this,” he added.

On Tuesday, BJP national president Amit Shah had kicked off the ‘Jan Raksha Yatra’ (people’s protection march) from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s hometown in Kannur district. The yatra will travel through the state before culminating in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17.

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Shah had also announced a ‘padyatra’ in all state capitals against CPI(M)’s alleged targeting of his party workers and had criticised the Vijayan-led LDF government over the political violence in the state. “More than 84 BJP and RSS workers have been killed in the district alone. I want to ask Pinarayi Vijayan…Who has killed them? If he does not have answers, then I am saying that the chief minister is responsible for the killings,” Shah had said.

“Communists have destroyed a peaceful Kerala, more than 120 BJP and RSS karyakartas have been murdered in Kerala so far,” Shah alleged. “I want to tell CM Pinarayi Vijayan that the more they try to muddy the political environment, more the lotus will bloom in Kerala,” the BJP president said, urging people to oust the Left party from power and bring in a BJP government for peace and prosperity.

On the other hand, the CPM hit back at the BJP national president, accusing him of “deliberately inciting violence” against its leaders and cadres. “Amit Shah is deliberately inciting violence against CPI (M) leaders and its workers. We are a recognised national party. We are here not because of Shah but because of the people. We will not tolerate this,” party leader Brinda Karat.

The BJP has alleged that as many as 120 BJP workers, 84 in Kannur alone, have been killed in the state since 2001 with 14 of them in the chief minister’s home town since he took over the reins last year.

With PTI inputs