Amit Shah In Village Of Kerala Chief Minister Who Calls Him 'Wet Cracker'

Thiruvananthapuram:  BJP chief Amit Shah, who has directly blamed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the murder of BJP workers in Kerala, will today lead the BJP's Jan Raksha (protect the people) Yatra through the Chief Minister's village Pinarayi in Kannur district. The 15-day yatra on foot to highlight what the BJP has called the "murder politics" of the state's ruling CPM is seen as a mega effort to establish the party in a state traditionally dominated by the Congress and the Left.

Amit Shah will walk 11 km today. BJP flags and posters line the road to Pinarayi and there is tight security.

The BJP chief had launched the yatra two days ago with prayers at a Kannur temple and a searing attack on the CPM and the Chief Minister, stating, "More than 84 BJP and RSS workers have been killed in Kannur 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."

Mr Vijayan has hit back accusing the BJP of "trying to break the secularism of the state," and alleged, "Amit Shah came and became like a wet cracker here." He said the state government will "not be scared away by the weapons and wealth you have collected. Nobody should think that you can scare us away."

The BJP's Kerala campaign is part of Amit Shah's plan to firm up the BJP's presence in states where it has so far been a minor player, in time for the 2019 general elections, when he hopes they will contribute to a bigger win for the BJP than its 2014 sweep to power. The BJP has never won a parliament seat from Kerala. In last year's assembly elections, it won a single seat.

Mr Shah was away from Kerala yesterday, but the BJP's Hindutva face Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stepped in with another scathing attack on the CPM, saying, "The BJP yatra is to generate awareness on the violence and killings of political workers and those of our ideology. This yatra is a mirror to the governments of Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal to repent and put an end to the killing of innocent people." He also accused the Left-led government of not taking steps to check a "dangerous trend like love jihad".

Yogi Adityanath's walk too was centred around Kannur, infamous for years of political violence, especially between CPM cadres and those of the BJP and its ideological mentor the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Other top BJP leaders, including chief ministers like Maharashtra's Devendra Fadnavis and Goa' Manohar Parrikar, will also be in Kerala over the next few days to participate in the relay walk which will cover the entire state, ending in capital Thiruvananthapuram on October 17.