When BJP chief Amit Shah visited Kerala in June, he had said that the communists were the main hurdle before the BJP in its expansion plans and exhorted the cadre to conquer the left bastion at all costs. The left only knows it too well and is determined to counter the BJP at all costs. Escalating clashes are the result.
If, till recently, their face-off was mostly restricted to northern Kerala, especially Kannur district, now it has spread across the state, especially in districts of Alapuzha and Thiruvananthapuram. Both are traditional strongholds of CPI(M).
It was only the other day the student wing of both the parties—SFI and ABVP—clashed in college campuses across the capital. Their animosity has reached such a level that even houses and cars belonging to top leaders of both sides were attacked and vandalised.
It all started with the BJP state office near Thycaud being ambushed by armed persons on motorbikes in the wee hours. Several vehicles, including party state president Kummanam Rajasekharan's car, were vandalised in the attack. Kummanam was present at the office at the time of attack.
CPI(M) also bore the brunt of the clashes as BJP workers stoned the residence of CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan's son in Maruthamkuzhi just hours later.
"We condemn this attack as we do not subscribe to any such attacks," Balakrishnan said.
The left leaders alleged that the BJP was unleashing violence to steal attention away from the corruption allegations plaguing the party for quite some time. But BJP has denied the involvement of the party workers in attacks which happened on CPI(M) activists.
BJP president Kummanam said that the CPI(M) was deliberately unleashing violence as it was scared of BJP's growth. He also said that the ruling left government supported the attackers. The government, on its part, suspended two police men who were on duty while the attack took place.
The clash between CPM and RSS has been a regular affair in Kerala. The state, which is the only remaining bastion of left forces in the country, incidentally is also home to highest number of shakhas. Naturally, this had led to umpteen instances of violence which has claimed nearly equal number of lives on both sides.
The BJP, after decades of efforts to open an account in Kerala, had managed to do so in the last assembly elections. Enthused by this result, Amit Shah has given tall orders to the state unit to go all out to capture the state. But CPI(M), determined to check the advance of BJP, leaves no stone un-turned to check the saffron surge. And the end result is, naturally, violent.
