By Shubhani Syal
For the past couple of days, reports of violence have been pouring in from the state of Kerela. These incidents started when four RSS workers were injured in a crude bomb hurled at RSS office on the evening of Thursday, 2nd March. This bomb started a vicious cycle of violence and damage in Kerala.
First Reaction
Kundan Chandrawat from RSS announced a bounty of Rs. one crore for beheading Kerela chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan which now thankfully stands withdrawn. However, some damage is already done. He holds the belief that CM, belonging to the CPI(M) cadre, is behind the killing of RSS workers.
The RSS distanced itself from the remarks of Chandrarawat saying that they “condemn the emotional comments made by Kundan”. It feels like the word “emotional” was used in a bid to justify his comment. Such announcements only go on to instigate people and normalise or even encourage violence.
Retaliation
Hours after the RSS attack, his announcements seems to have encouraged some people as two separate incidents of violence have also been reported. The CPI(M) office in Kallachi was raided and set on fire in the middle of the night, adding a lot of damage to property but thankfully, none to life.
Police officials have said that since this incident was after the attack of the RSS office, they suspect it to be a case of retaliation by RSS-BJP.
In the other incident, three members of the youth wing of CPI(M), the DYFI, were attacked with sharp weapons. In this incident also BJP members have been suspected as the attackers.
Violence Way of Life In Kannur
Kannur in Kerela, where most of these political violence incidents have been happening, has a history of violence dating back to the period of British expansion in India, during the 18th and 19th century. Presently, about 400 political violence cases have been reported in Kannur since May 2016, and over 600 CPI(M), 280 BJP and 52 Congress activists have been arrested since then.
These statistics show that these incidents are not a sudden outburst but actually an ongoing phenomenon. When the political parties, especially the ruling party are involved in so much violence, as shown by the over 600 arrests of CPI(M) activists, it sets a very disturbing precedent for the people.
God’s Own Country?
Kerala, has often been called, ‘Gods Own Country’, however such incidents of so much violence and bloodshed, say otherwise.
These events of political violence have caused a lot of damage, both to property and life. It is disheartening to see that instead of using policies and positive reforms, these parties are resorting to such measures to win over control of the state.
Kerala has always been ahead of the rest of the country in many ways, such as sanitation, health, cleanliness and education but to see such violence in such a progressive state is shocking and extremely saddening.
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