Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday asked the Kerala Government to put an end to political killings in the State. “The State Government should take strong action and create an environment where people can live fearlessly,” he said after meeting the relatives of RSS leader Manoj, who was murdered recently by CPI(M) activists, at Kathiroor in Kannur district.
Singh said the State Government should make an honest effort to find out why such political killings were taking place and ensure that such incidents did not take place. The State Government should take action to end the problem of violence and to ensure freedom of speech, religion and political activity,” he said.
Referring to the demand for a CBI probe into the murder of Manoj, district Sharirik Shikshan Pramukh of the RSS in Kannur, Rajnath Singh said he expected the Central order on such a probe to come soon. He said the Centre had already received a recommendation from the State Government for a CBI investigation into the murder of Manoj.
After landing at Koothuparambu, Rajnath Singh drove to the house of Manoj in Kathiroor to console the slain RSS leader’s family members. After that he took part in a get-together of the families of the RSS-BJP activists who were murdered by the CPI(M) in Kannur in the past four decades and those who were injured in Marxist attacks.
Singh said he had talked to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy immediately after the murder of Manoj. “The Chief Minister had assured me that stringent action would be taken,” he said, adding that he was aware of certain arrests already made in connection with the incident.
A Marxist killer gang had hacked Manoj (42) to death on September 1 after creating a terror situation by hurling country bombs at the vehicle in which he was travelling at Diamond Mukku in Kathiroor.
The special team of Kerala Police’s Crime Branch investigating the murder has already arrested three CPI(M) activists in connection with the incident.The Home Minister said that political differences were not to be sorted out through violence but through ideological dialogues.
“There should be healthy politics. All political parties should come on board to ensure this,” he said, asking social and cultural organizations to be alert against acts of political violence.Terming the murder of Manoj as very unfortunate, the Home Minister said that political ideologies could not be suppressed through violence. “One should oppose one political ideology through another political ideology and not through acts of violence,” he said.
The growth of BJP and RSS could be one of the reasons behind incidents like the murder of Manoj, he opined.