Kerala tense as RSS worker is hacked to death

A 12-hour shutdown call by the BJP on Sunday to protest the killing of a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) worker a day earlier derailed normal life in several parts of Kerala.

E Rajesh, 34, was stabbed 40 times and his left hand was chopped off by a group of men on Saturday. He died during treatment at a city hospital.

Eight people were detained in connection with the incident on Sunday, police said.

The BJP alleged that Rajesh was murdered by CPI(M) workers. BJP state chief Kummanam Rajasekharan sought immediate intervention of the Centre, where the party is in power, but the ruling CPI (M) denied the involvement of its cadre in the murder.

“The ruling CPI(M) can’t get away with these killings. It is nothing but state-sponsored terrorism,” said Rajasekharan.

Earlier in the day, Union home minister Rajnath Singh dialled chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressing his concern over the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

Rajnath took to his twitter handle to inform about his conversation with the Kerala CM. “Spoke to Kerala CM Shri Pinrayi Vijayan today regarding the recent incidents of political violence in the state,” he tweeted.

Political clashes between the cadres of the two parties have become endemic in Kerala after the RSS started making inroads in the state, dominated, so far, by the Left parties. The BJP managed to bag its first assembly seat – Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram -- during last year’s assembly election.