The Central Government has sought an explanation from the CPI(M)-led lDF Government in Kerala on Tuesday’s midnight bomb attack on the BJP’s State committee office in Thiruvananthapuram. The Kerala BJP observed Thursday as a Black Day in the State in protest against the attack.
Acting upon a complaint received from the leadership of the Kerala BJP regarding the bomb attack, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh reportedly called up Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and sought an explanation over the incident. The Centre has also asked the State Home Department to submit a report.
The State BJP leadership had complained to the Centre on Wednesday not just about the bomb attack but also the frequent attacks by CPI(M) against BJP-RSS workers in the State, particularly in northern Kannur district. A delegation of BJP MPs from Delhi is likely to visit Kerala soon to assess the law and order situation.
In his telephonic conversation with Chief Minister Pinarayi, the Union Home Minister conveyed his anxiety over the attacks that were allegedly continuing against BJP workers in Kerala. State BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan had complained to the Centre that Pinarayi had not even condemned the bomb attack on the party office. The Centre asked the State Government to take urgent steps to ensure that such incidents did not recur.
Unidentified miscreants had hurled a crude bomb at the State BJP office in Thiruvananthapuram at Tuesday midnight. Nobody was hurt in the explosion in which glass panes at the entrance had shattered. The explosion took place shortly after Kummanam had left the office for Kozhikode. No arrests have yet been made in the case.
The BJP alleged that the CPI(M) was behind the attack but Marxists have rejected the charge. The national BJP leadership is of the view that the bomb attack was a handiwork of the CPI(M) itself and the target could have been State party chief Kummanam. Similar suspicion was also aired by former State BJP president PK Krishnadas.
Referring to the attack on the party office and the recurring attacks on BJP-RSS workers in Kannur, Kummanam said on Thursday, “The CPI(M) is sowing wind to reap whirlwind. They should withdraw from this,” adding that he did not expect the State police’s probe to be fair. “I don’t know what kind of a probe the police are carrying out. I am certain that if the officer probing the case won’t be there in that position if he catches the actual culprit,” he said.
The investigation into the bomb attack is being carried out by six teams under the supervision of Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner G Sparjan Kumar. A CCTV video showed an unidentified man on motorbike passing by the BJP building around Tuesday midnight. The assumption is that the crude bomb was hurled at the party office by this person.
At the same time, the CPI(M) refused to view the Centre’s intervention in the issue seriously. “This is perhaps the funniest explanation-seeking of the year,” CPI(M)’s central committee member and State Industries Minister EP Jayarajan said in Kollam on Thursday. “Does anyone think that a political party will carry out such an attackIJ” he asked.
Jayarajan also said that the leaders of the BJP, being the party in power in the Centre, should show “some standard” while reacting to such incidents. “A probe is on and the culprit will be caught. When that happens, the BJP leadership will have to apologise to the people (for the allegation they raised),” he added.
Meanwhile, in yet another incident of alleged Marxist violence in Kannur district, an RSS worker has been admitted to the hospital with hack injuries. Navajith (24) of Pathiriyad near Koothuparamba was attacked by a gang late Wednesday night when he was returning home after work. The attack on Navajith took place just four days after the murder of RSS worker at Thillankery near Iritti in Kannur.