CPM protests against BJP over Kerala killings

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of CPM activists led by its General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday marched up to the BJP headquarters here in protest against the killings of CPM cadres in Kerala allegedly by RSS and BJP members.

CPM leaders said they were being attacked by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for upholding secular values, which they said was “anathema” to the hate politics of the RSS and the BJP.

The marchers set out from Delhi’s CPM office at Vithalbhai Patel House in the heart of Delhi and moved towards the BJP office about a kilometre away, shouting slogans like “RSS terror down, down” and “Khooni rajniti band karo” (Stop politics of violence).

The march was stopped by police near the BJP office where CPM leaders addressed the gathering.

“Ever since the Modi government took power, the RSS-BJP have gone on a rampage, particularly in Kerala, killing CPM cadres and sympathisers. Their politics of hatred has also seen killings in the name of ‘gauraksha’, ‘love jehad’ and pseudo-nationalism,” Yechury said. He said as many as 85 CPM cadres had been killed in the last three years in Kerala.

Referring to BJP President Amit Shah’s visit to Kerala, Yechury accused him of trying to divert the attention of the people “because his son is implicated in a money laundering case”.