Widespread riots and arson continued in various parts of Kerala on Saturday as a fallout of Thursday’s hartal and the resultant police action. Unidentified persons threw country-made bombs at the ancestral house of V Muraleedharan, BJP MP (Rajya Sabha) at Thalassery. The incident occurred early Saturday morning.
Muraleedharan, who represents Maharashtra in the Upper House, was away on tour while the attack took place. “My sister, brother-in-law and their children stay in the house. Nobody was hurt in the attack,” said the MP.
The RSS office at Pariyaram in Kannur was set to fire by miscreants immediately after the attack on Muraleedharan’s house. This was followed by incidents of bomb attacks on houses of P Sasi, the former CPI-M strongman in Kannur district and that of AN Shamseer, CPI-M MLA.
Oommen Chandi, former Chief Minister, told The Pioneer that Kerala was undergoing and experiencing an unprecedented break down in law and order as reports about more and more riots were coming in from various parts of the State. “The parties which should have sorted out the issue themselves are fighting it out in the streets. It is very painful to see this kind of vandalism and rioting in Kerala. This was never the Kerala I knew,” said Chandi.
Police officials in the district are tense following the attacks as Kannur is a battleground where deadly fights take place between the CPI-M and the BJP activists.
Secirity has been beefed up all over the district by deployment of more police force to face any untoward incidents. The CPI-M leadership asked its cadre to stay calm and not to attack the residences of political rivals.
Pitched battles were reported from various districts in the State even as Dr TP Senkumar, former State Police Chief who headed the Intelligence Wing lambasted the Kerala Government for the present state of affairs. “The Kerala Government is under the impression that they could hoodwink the public bt facilitating the entry of women activists into the temple with police escort.
Till this moment, not a single woman devotee has come to the shrine except the activists who were brought in by the police. It is a deplorable scenario,” said Dr Senkumar, a highly respected former police official who had earned encomiums throughout his career.
The police said on Saturday that the person who hurled a bomb at a police station in Thiruvananthapuram district on hartal day has been identified as a RSS activist.
Oommen Chandi, who spoke to this newspaper too echoed the sentiments of Dr senkumar. “The Congress as well as the UDF were of the view that the sentiments of the believers should never be hurt.
The affidavit submitted by us during my tenure as Chief Minister had clearly mentioned it. But the CPI-M Government called back that affidavit and filed a different affidavit with ulterior motives and we are suffering for the same,” said Chandi.