Unprecedented Left and Right violence rocks state capital

and BJP workers, both before and after the hartal, heightened tensions in the state. This level of political brutality is associated with the northern parts of the state where RSS and Left activists often clash — not with Kerala’s capital city. So why has Thiruvananthapuram become a LeftBJP-RSS flashpoint?

The BJP feels that this is because the party is growing. “A lot of new people, especially from the marginalised communities, are joining the BJP. The Left wants to stop this through intimidation and violence,” MT Ramesh, general secretary of the BJP state unit told Hindustan Times.

Author and social commentator Paul Zacharia agrees with this view: “I’m not surprised that Thiruvananthapuram is the latest flashpoint because the BJP has perhaps grown the quickest in Kerala in this district.”

The Left, however, sees the hand of the Centre in recent developments. “Behind the developments in Thiruvananthapuram there is the agenda of the BJP-led central government. This is because the government in Kerala is one of the few that does not toe Centre’s line,” says Pannyan Raveendran, a national executive member of the CPI.

The Congress-led Opposition suspects hidden motives behind the current tension. “The BJP wants to conceal the [medical college] scam that has hit the party, while the CPI(M) wants to hide its administrative failures,” Ramesh Chennithala, Opposition leader in the Kerala assembly told HT. The Left also sees a sinister plot in the Centre taking a keen interest in the state’s affair.

“Just like the Congress was scared of the Communists in 1957, the BJP is scared of the Left in 2017. In 1957, of the 14 states in India then, the Congress was in power in 13, and Kerala was the only exception. The Centre worked towards removing the Communist government and succeeded in 1959. This is indicative of what is happening now,” says Raveendran.

While addressing party cadre in February, Vijayan had said that no group should keep “hopes” of destabilising his government. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury also compared the CIA’s efforts against Communist governments to that of the BJP and RSS’ to “disband” the Left government in Kerala.

Zacharia, however, rubbishes this theory. “It’s too simplistic, predictable and an easy reason to give.” On Monday Vijayan met with the RSS and BJP leaders and to a certain extent tensions have diffused. The government also decided to call an all-party meet on Sunday.

“If Pinarayi and (BJP state president) Kummanam Rajasekharan want, they can defuse the situation in an hour’s time,” says Chennithala.

Zacharia is not so hopeful. “The Left is not really in charge of its cadre and that’s why we see some of these incidents are happening.” BJP’s Ramesh feels that the ball is in the government’s court. “We have put forward our demands [at the Monday meeting]. It is now for the government to act.”

All sides agree that violence is not the way ahead. “This ‘Kolakathi Rashtriyam’ (politics with a bloodied knife) must stop and the concerned parties must work towards it. They should control their cadre for peace to prevail,” Ravindran told HT.

The question is: Is anybody listening?