Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram slipped into the grip of panic on Friday as security was stepped after incidents of violence erupted in several parts of the city following a shocking early morning attack on the BJP’s State committee office allegedly by CPI(M) activists.
BJP leaders said party’s State president Kummanam Rajasekharan was in the office when the attack took place and they alleged that the attack was in fact an attempt on his life. This was the second attack on the State BJP office in ten months.
As per CCTV visuals from the spot, the BJP office was vandalized at after 1.15 AM Friday by a six-member gang led allegedly by DYFI leader and CPI(M)’s Corporation councilor IP Binu and district SFI president Prathin Saj. The attack took place in front of five policemen including a Sub-Inspector but all of them, except one, remained mute witnesses to the violence.
The Marxist gang that reached the BJP office on three motorbikes damaged six vehicles, including the car of Kummanam, parked in the compound. They also threw stones and bricks at the office of the BJP president, party leaders said. The attackers left the place after creating a terror situation for about 15 minutes at the office compound.
“I am safe. They couldn’t kill me this time too. Each attack serves to strengthen our resolve in fighting,” Kummanam said in a tweet. Alleging that Kummanam was the attackers’ target, State BJP general secretary MT Ramesh said that this attack and other incidents in the city showed the law and order system in the State had collapsed under the rule of the CPI(M)-led lDF.
The policeman who tried to stop the attackers had to be hospitalised after being manhandled by them while two policemen who remained idle during the attack were suspended from service. Four CPI(M) activists including Binu and Prathin were arrested for the attack while DGP loknath Behera claimed that the situation had been brought under control.
Areas falling within the Thiruvananthapuram City Police’s limits were on Friday afternoon brought under prohibitory orders for three days in the context of the incidents that followed the attack on the BJP office. Some parts of the capital district were already under such orders following the tension over the sexual scandal involving Congress MlA A Vincent.
Security was stepped up across the capital city and the additional police were deployed at the offices of the BJP and the CPI(M) and at important centres even as violence threatened to spread beyond the city’s borders. Party offices in Kannur district, known for its history of CPI(M)-BJP conflict, were also brought under tight security.
The attack on the BJP office triggered violence and tension across the State capital and houses of several BJP and CPI(M) leaders and workers came under attack. Among the houses that came under attack was that of Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and the latter alleged that he was the target of the attackers though he was not present there.
Friday’s attack on the BJP office, which had come under a bomb attack allegedly by Marxists on September 7, 2016, followed a series of violent incidents involving the CPI(M) and the BJP that Thiruvananthapuram witnessed on Thursday. Several party offices and houses of workers on both sides had come under attack.
Kodiyeri alleged that the incidents in the capital were not isolated but were the result of a conspiracy of the RSS to spread lawlessness in the State with the blessings of the NDA Government in the Centre while the BJP accused the CPI(M) of trying to turn the State capital into another Kannur, the northern district infamous for its history of CPI(M)-BJP conflicts.
BJP leaders said a complaint had already been lodged with the Union Home Department in the context of the recurring attacks on the State office. “If the Government can’t ensure our leaders’ safety, BJP workers know how to do that,” said MT Ramesh, adding that the CPI(M)’s Kannur lobby, to which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kodiyeri belonged, was behind the attack.
The Congress put equal blame on the CPI(M) and the BJP for the violence continuing in the State capital for the past two days. State Congress chief MM Hassan said that the CPI(M) was perpetrating violence in order to hide the failures in its rule while the BJP was trying to divert attention from the bribery scandal involving its leaders.