An activist of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) was stabbed to death in Kerala's Kannur district on Thursday as violence marred the State-wide hartal called by BJP in protest against the murder of a party worker allegedly by CPI(M) activists.
Normal life was thrown out of gear across Kerala on Thursday as the dawn-to-dusk shutdown called by the BJP to protest against the murder of Ramith by a gang in Pinarayi, Kannur on Wednesday evoked total response even as the Union Home Department sought the State Government’s explanation over the incident.
The strike was peaceful by and large though incidents of violence were reported from some places in the State. Public transport came to a halt across the State though private vehicles, mostly two-wheelers, were seen on the roads in some places. Shops, commercial establishments and schools remained closed and Government offices reported only skeletal attendance.
The police had brought all sensitive areas in the State under tight security cover by deploying personnel in large numbers. Kannur remained under a security blanket as six companies of the force were deployed additionally to avert occurrence of untoward incidents in Koothuparambu, Pinarayi, Thalassery, Panur, Payyannur and other sensitive areas.
However, despite all the security, Kannur, witnessed another murder when Farooq (40), activist of SDPI, political wing of Popular Front of India, was stabbed to death by a group. Police, however, said this was not a political murder and was due to previous enmity even as SDPI pointed fingers at IUMl.
leaderships of the BJP and RSS warned that their patience could run out if the CPI(M) was not prepared to end its attacks on their workers and leaders. Pointing out that the situation in Kannur was so terrible that normal life had become impossible there due to CPI(M)’s politics of violence, they said the Marxists should not force them to resort to retaliatory measures.
The body of Ramith, brought from the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode where the postmortem was done, was cremated at his residential plot at Chavassery, Pinarayi on Thursday afternoon in the presence of State and district leaders of the BJP, cultural leaders and hundreds of party workers and local residents.
Ramith, a truck driver and the only bread-earner of his family, was hacked to death on Wednesday morning by a Marxist killer gang in front of his house in Pinarayi.
Dharmadom, the constituency of Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in which his native village Pinarayi where Ramith was killed came, had witnessed the murder of CPI(M) worker Kuzhichalil Mohanan (52), a toddy shop worker, on Monday. The CPI(M) had observed a day-long shutdown in Kannur district on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the BJP held demonstrations in all the main centres in the State. Incidents like stone-pelting at State-owned buses, blocking of vehicles, skirmishes with CPI(M) and DYFI workers, etc were reported from several places in the State during the shutdown. In Kottayam, the BJP’s district office came under stone-pelting.
Reports from Ottapalam said three activists of the DYFI, CPI(M)’s youth organization, had suffered hack injuries when BJP workers attacked them. There were also complaints of manhandling of mediapersons in some places.