Violence out of control in Kerala

The Pinarayi Vijayan Government in Kerala is scared, so scared that they took out full-page advertisements in some newspapers in Delhi yesterday, highlighting the State’s achievements. One thing left unmentioned, however, is the rising tide of political violence unleashed by communist party workers on members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). In the past 14 months, 14 workers of the RSS or BJP have been brutally murdered. However, as political violence is par for the course in Kerala, most previous killings, either by the communists or attacks by Islamists, did not get much attention in national media even though there have been brave actions like that of C Sadanandan Master, a BJP leader in Kerala who stood for the last election despite communist party workers chopping off his legs back in 1994.

Earlier in January, communist workers in Kerala thought nothing of burning Santosh and Vimala in their house. Such tactics would have made Stalin and Bolsheviks proud. But the sheer brutality of the murder of Rajesh Edavakode by communists near Thiruvananthapuram was stunning. In a State that has become almost immune to political murders, the 89 cuts by sharp tools on Rajesh’s body was incredible. The immediate reaction by the communist leadership in the State was first to blame the RSS and then after being caught by hidden cameras, they claimed that this was a witch-hunt against the Pinarayi Government, which was once warned by the Governor of the State that law and order has got out of control. It is the sheer brutality of the murder that has brought violence in Kerala to national attention and has the communists fearing for their political future — they are aware that under increased scrutiny and thugs that operated with impunity across the State, they cannot do so anymore.

Kerala may have extremely good social indicators — some of the best in the country — but it is also a State which has benefited tremendously from remittances from the Middle-East. However, with the oil-economy dramatically slowing and much of the Arabian peninsula in a state of turmoil, both politically and economically, opportunities for employment are dying down. Also, the Pinarayi Government has failed to stop the flow of indoctrinated youth travelling to Syria and Iraq, to join the Islamic State and get killed by the dozen — all in the name of secularism by not addressing the issue of radical Islam.

While the Kerala Government’s advertisement speaks about communal harmony, the Government knows it well that the faultlines between communities has never been so pronounced. By allowing the wanton murder of RSS/BJP workers, the Government in Kerala, far from addressing communal issues, is making matters worse. While communist luminaries have begun to fear the imposition of Article 356 in the State, that should not be the way the Union Government deals with the issue. The Pinarayi Government should be given a chance to rectify the situation and rein in the thugs and get law and order in control and actually govern instead of pointing fingers.

Source : Daily Pioneer