Cycle of violence started by RSS, says Yechury

As the BJP fielded its Hindutva icon and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to take on the Left front in Kerala, the CPI(M) on Wednesday announced a countrywide agitation from October 9, claiming that the cycle of political violence in the state was begun by the RSS when the Left Democratic Front came to power in the state in May last year.

The CPI(M) also released a fact-sheet on RSS-BJP violence in Kerala.

“The pot is calling the kettle back,” CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury told the media here.

“The onus is on the other foot. The entire cycle of violence has been started by the RSS. That violence has started since the LDF came to power in May,” he said.

Mr Yechury said that the BJP was using the cycle of violence to divert people’s attention from real issues.

“Countdown has started for (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi. That is why they are using violence and communal hatred as tools to divide people. This had been their methodology for long,” he added.

“People are discontent. Modi government has failed at the national level. People of Kerala and Bengal have rejected them,” the senior party leader said.

Mr Yechury announced that the CPI(M) will organise a nation-wide protest on October 9. The agitation would counter the 15-day march launched by BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday to highlight CPI(M)’s alleged violence against BJP-RSS workers in Kerala.

“The rejection of their politics would be done democratically by the people of Kerala and West Bengal and party workers,” the CPI(M) leader added.