BJP and CPM in blame game on Kerala clashes

As a delegation of BJP leaders reached Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday with its complaint against the Left Front in Kerala over attacks on saffron workers allegedly by CPI(M) supporters, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury hit back, blaming the saffron party and the RSS over the violence in the southern state.

A BJP delegation met President Pranab Mukherjee and alleged that its workers and those of the RSS were facing “atrocities” by the CPI(M), which led the alliance that won the Assembly polls. It also questioned the silence of the Congress, saying it was not good for democracy. BJP workers staged protests outside CPI(M) headquarters in New Delhi.

Mr Yechury, on the other hand, said the Sangh Parivar’s cadre had attacked Left leaders’ victory processions as they were not willing to accept the people’s verdict.

After submitting the memorandum to Mr Mukherjee, senior minister Nitin Gadkari, who led the delegation, said: “We have given the President details of these cases, including photographs. Our worker Pramod was killed. The houses of over 100 workers have been vandalised. The situation is not good. He has assured us he will take appropriate action.” Mr Gadkari said that unfortunately the Congress “is keeping quiet... (this) is not good for democracy. Democracy is a battle of ideas and parties cannot grow by taking the law into their hands. We hope those having faith in democracy will condemn this violence.”

Besides Mr Gadkari, the delegation included Union ministers J.P. Nadda, Nirmala Sitharaman and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, MP Meenakshi Lekhi and Kerala BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan.

BJP workers staged a protest outside the CPI(M) office against the murder of a party activist allegedly by Left supporters during a victory rally in Kerala. Several police teams were deployed and a four-tier security arrangement in place around the CPI(M) office in New Delhi’s Gole Market area on Sunday morning. CPI(M) workers also came out of the building to confront the protesters, that led to a minor scuffle between the two sides. Breaking the police barriers, BJP supporters also damaged a signboard at the CPI(M) office.

Alleging that BJP and RSS workers had started the bout of violence in Kerala by attacking a victory procession, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said: “This happened across the state. The BJP is simply not willing to accept the democratic verdict of the people.” He claimed that the allegations against his party workers were “false” and that the BJP leadership was adopting a “hypocritical and dishonest position” on what had happened in Kerala.

The BJP delegation also claimed that the “enhanced presence” of the BJP in the state, converting a “bipolar election to a visible tripolar”, had given the Left parties a reason to scale up the level of violence.