By Shafeeq Hudawi, TwoCircles.net
Kannur: The murder of a 19-year-old RSS-BJP activist on October 12 added one more name to the list of victims of relentless political violence in Kannur district of Kerala. Ramith, hailing from Pinarayi, the home village of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was killed in a revenge action that followed the murder of CPM leader K Mohanan, who was killed by allegedly by a group of BJP-RSS activists on October 10.
Photo credits: Facebook pages of BJP and CPI (M)
This has, once again, indicated that Kannur remains Kerala’s most politically violent area.While the CPM is alleged to be literally working with its party symbols the sickle and hammer, the RSS and BJP are known to resort to violence as and when there is a clear political motive.
The political rivalry among CPM, RSS and Congress here dates back to 1960s.
“It could be perceived as a continuation of the rivalry between landlords, which later gave way to rivalry between peasants and landlords after the arrival of Marxist parties in Kerala. The defense extended by common men and peasants against the landlords here later transformed into political violence and the parties stood as the custodians of this trend,” says Malayalam short story writer Vinoy Thomas.
Vinoy’s Malayalam short story, Moorkhanpambu, which means cobra, points fingers to the historic aspects of the political rivalry.
Landlords here used to form their own gangs and provided them with arms and martial training.
The strongholds of various parties here, also known as party villages, remain closed and inaccessible for other party workers. And the outer world and police too is less cognizant about the activities, which includes arms training and bomb making here.
“This habit of being closed and isolated intensifies the violence here. The notorious party village system is one of the major villains,” says Malayalam writer Shihabudheen Poithumkadavu.
Since 1960s, more than 180 persons from Marxist, Congress and Hindu right-wing have been killed in the district in various violence.
The violence has claimed several lives this year. Besides Ramith and Mohanan, RSS-BJP activist Bineesh from Thillankeri was killed by CPM workers. He was murdered in retaliation of the murder of CPM worker C V Dhanarajan, who was hacked to death by rivals in July. BMS activist C K Ramachandran of Annur in Payyannur was killed by CPM activists on July 12. This is in addition to two CPM workers and one RSS worker, who were killed in explosion while making crude bombs.
The district has been witnessing a spurt in violence since May, 2016. According to figures with Kerala police, over 300 incidents of political violence have been recorded in Kannur in the last eight months.
The police has arrested cadres from all the parties spectrum: since May 2016, 458 CPM workers, 190 BJP/RSS workers and 42 Congress have been arrested. And this number excludes any fresh arrests made in the recent cases.
If media reports are taken into account, the present District Police Chief Kori Sanjaykumar Gurudin is already on the radar for his impartial action that has irked district leadership of the CPI(M).
Vinoy says that the strict enforcement of law had brought temporary relief in 1990s during the tenure of Congress leader A K Antony.
Political parties also fail to contain violence as they perceive retaliation as a matter of pride. “Rather than taking up sincere steps leaders here prefer challenging each other,” Shihab says referring into the recent hate speeches by CPM and BJP leaders Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and M T Ramesh. The duo, while attending party meets here, added fuel to the violence.
Shihab also put blame on media for adding fuel to the issue. “The local media often gives these leaders slots to challenge and play blame game,” he said.
Vinoy says that though the common men here want to restore peace the political parties don’t allow them to do. “The youngsters here want to go foreign countries and earn their livelihood. But, they are included in police cases by the party activists themselves and deny them opportunity to go abroad,” he alleges.
No instant remedy is suggested for the politics of hatred. “Kannur is the birthplace of prominent writers, artists and academia. But all of them have migrated to other places. Whenever you hear the term Kannur, it brings the picture of political leaders to your mind,” Shihab says.
Shihab, hailing from Valapattanam in Kannur, shifted to Thrissur in central Kerala in 2000.
According to him, peace could be attained only if the cultural activities replace the current brand of politics here. “Cultural activists should lead the efforts to bring peace, not political leaders as they can’t initiate nothing sincere. Besides, social scientists should conduct a study and suggest long term remedies,” Shihab says.