In the aftermath of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP)’s campaign blitz as part of its Janaraksha Yatra that marched through some of the ‘red bastions’ in the district for the last four days, the CPI(M) is launching a counter-campaign to repel the BJP’s onslaught holding the CPI(M) responsible for political violence in the district.
CPI(M) district secretary P. Jayarajan said the party would organise a ‘satyagraha’ here on October 9 to expose the BJP’s campaign 'propagating lies.' Members of the families of CPI(M) workers killed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers and those maimed in the attacks would participate in the satyagraha, he said at a press conference here on Saturday.
CPI(M) central committee member E.P. Jayarajan would inaugurate it, he said adding that the satyagraha was part of the nation-wide protest day being observed by the CPI(M) against the BJP’s ‘false propaganda.’
Mr. Jayarajan said the BJP’s yatra here had ended up being an event for raising violent slogans. The police should register a case against BJP leaders in connection with the alleged shouting of such slogans, he said. The march attended by BJP president Amit Shah had been organised to spread lies against the CPI(M), he said adding that BJP workers in large numbers were mobilised from different parts of the State and outside. It was literally an anti-Kerala campaign, the CPI(M) leader said.
Stating that it was the CPI(M)’s strong ‘resistance’ through mobilisation of people that prevented the Sangh Parivar from growing in the State, he said that the people’s resistance should be further strengthened. Asked about the BJP’s allegation that the CPI(M) had called for a hartal at Pinarayi on October 5 when the yatra was to pass through the area, he said that shopkeepers voluntarily chose to down their shutters.
While the Sangh Parivar staged protests against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s visit to Mangaluru and Hyderabad, there was no such protest against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his visit here. He said that CPI(M) workers had been given clear instruction that they should not react to provocations during the yatra, he added.