Kerala CM meets slain CPM leader’s kin

Kerala’s CPI(M) Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has come under fire for not meeting the family of a BJP worker in New Mahe, Kannur who was hacked to death allegedly by Marxist killers on May 7 even when he found time to visit the house of a leader of his party, who was killed on the same day, just a stone’s throw away in Mahe, Puducherry.

Pinarayi arrived at the house of local Marxist leader Kannipoyil Babu (45), who was murdered allegedly by RSS-BJP men on the night of May 7, at Pallur in Mahe at around 8.00 PM Saturday and consoled his mother Sarojini, widow Anitha, children Anupriya, Anamika and Anunand and other relatives. He spent about eight minutes at Babu’s house before leaving for Kozhikode.

CPI(M)’s Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan, Thalassery area secretary MC Pavithran, party functionaries M Surendran and CP Kunhiraman, Thalassery Municipal chairman CK Ramesan and others accompanied the Chief Minister on his visit to Babu’s house. The Chief Minister was returning from the northern Kasaragod district. However, Pinarayi did not visit the house of BJP-RSS worker Shamej Parambath (36), a poor autorikshaw driver who was hacked to death by suspected CPI(M) killers within an hour of Babu’s murder, at New Mahe, just two and a half kilometers away from Babu’s house. The Chief Minister’s act has sparked stiff protests among Shamej’s relatives and BJP workers in the area.

“We had a feeling that the Chief Minister might not come here because that is how he has behaved in such cases so far. Still, we hoped that he might drop in at least to avoid criticisms as he had visited Babu’s house, which is in another state. It would have been a huge relief for Shamej’s mother, wife and son if he had come,” said a relative of the slain BJP worker.

BJP leaders in Kannur, infamous as Kerala’s political killing fields, and Mahe said that this proved the insincerity of Pinarayi, the CPI(M) and the party-led LDF government he is heading in the endeavors to restore and maintain peace in the politically turbulent areas of the district and adjoining Mahe.

Criticizing Pinarayi, former State BJP chief PK Krishnadas said, “There is nothing wrong in the Chief Minister’s visit to the house of his party’s slain leader. If he had visited Shamej’s house also, it would have sent a great message to the entire people of the State. Moreover, it would have become an impetus to the peace efforts.” “What was he trying to prove by visiting Babu’s house and not meeting Shamej’s family when it takes only five minutes to reach that place from Pallur?” asked a senior BJP leader from Thalassery, Kannur. “With this, Pinarayi has effectively admitted that despite being the Chief Minister of all people, he is still an unforgiving Stalinist first and foremost,” he added.