A 50-year-old BJP worker who was severely injured late on Saturday in an attack by CPI(M) activists at Kaipamangalam in Kerala’s Thrissur district died at a private hospital near Thrissur city early on Sunday.
Satheesan, son of Chakkanchath Kunjayyappan of Kalamuri, is the second BJP worker to be killed in the alleged CPI(M) violence in Thrissur district within two weeks. A CPI(M) killer gang had hacked to death an RSS activist, P Anand of Brahmakulam, at Nenmini near Guruvayur in broad daylight on November 12.
Satheesan suffered injuries during a clash between CPI(M) and BJP workers at Akampadam near Kalamuri. He came under attack when he intervened in the conflict to take away the son of his brother who was involved in the clash. A total of six persons, including four BJP workers, had suffered injuries in the violent clash.
The other three injured BJP workers were admitted to hospital in Kodungallur. However, reports quoting the police sources said Satheesan’s widow claimed that he was a sympathiser of the CPI(M).
Police have registered a case for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in relation to the incident. They stepped up security in the area considering the tension between the two parties. The BJP will observe a shutdown on Monday in areas coming under Kaipamangalam Assembly constituency and Kodungallur municipality to protest against the incident.
According to the BJP, Satheesan was its second worker to be killed in Marxist violence in Kaipamangalam constituency since the CPI(M)-led LDF won the Assembly polls held in May, 2016. A 33-year-old BJP worker, V Pramod, was killed in the violence allegedly unleashed by CPI(M) workers celebrating the Left nominee’s victory in Kaipamangalam on May 19 last year.
Tension prevailed in Kalamuri area after both parties claimed the body of Satheesan. When BJP workers reached the hospital in Olari claiming that Satheesan was their activist, CPI(M) workers waited at his house. Police had to interfere to avert a clash after BJP workers reached the house and asked the Marxists to leave the place.
Responding to reports on Satheesan’s death, Kerala BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan said the incident proved that the Marxists were not prepared to give up their habit of annihilating political adversaries. “We have conveyed our concern over the continuing political violence in Kerala to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh,” he said in New Delhi.
State BJP president B Gopalakrishnan, who hails from Thrissur district, alleged that Satheesan’s killing was part of the CPI(M)’s efforts to disallow the BJP to carry out organisational activities.
“These violent incidents are taking place as per the planning of the district Marxist leadership. The local police are vitiating the situation by being reluctant to act fairly,” he said.
Observers are interpreting the latest incident as an indication of the growing rivalry between the CPI(M) and the BJP in Thrissur district, especially along its coastal belt. Anand, the BJP worker who was killed in Marxist attack on November 12, was the second accused in the case pertaining to the murder of CPI(M) activist Fasil (21) in November, 2013.