Kerala’s CPI(M) and Congress on Wednesday lashed out at BJP president Amit Shah over the references he had made on Wednesday to political violence, allegedly sponsored by the CPI(M), in the State while addressing a public meeting in Payyannur, Kannur as part of the launch of his party all-Kerala Jana Raksha Yatra against jehadi and Red terror.
While former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy said the people of Kerala would stand united against Shah’s effort to ridicule the State, CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the BJP chief’s hands were stained with the blood split in the “genocide” of 2002 in Gujarat, and Keralites would not pay heed to his words.
In New Delhi, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury rejected BJP chief Amit Shah’s allegation that saffron workers were being targeted and instead accused the BJP and the RSS of spreading “well-planned violence” in the State. “It is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Why did they throw bombs at Pinarayi Vijayan’s victory rallyIJ They had been accumulating arms since the day poll results were declared,” he alleged. “CPI(M) and the people of Kerala and Bengal will give a befitting reply to activities of BJP democratically,” Yechury said.
The leaders’ attacks came in response to Shah’s statements in Payyannur on Tuesday that violence and murders were continuously occurring in all places where CPI(M) had influence. West Bengal and Tripura were examples of this, he had said, adding that Kerala had witnessed violence whenever the left came to power.
“Those who ridicule Kerala should understand that this is a State that has risen above all kinds of divisionist tendencies and is keeping high standards in thought and action in all sectors of life and society. If Amit Shah wants to find fault with the entire State in the name of some isolated incidents, Keralites would oppose that attempt in total unity,” Chandy said in Kollam.
launching a frontal attack against the BJP chief and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said at Vengara in Malappuram district where an Assembly by-election is to take place on October 11, “It was under the leadership of Shah and Modi that so many people were massacred in Gujarat in 2002.”
Alleging that Shah’s hands were stained with the blood spilt in the “genocide” of 2002 in Gujarat, the State CPI(M) secretary said, “If a man with such blood-stained hands talks to Keralites in this fashion, nobody is going to take his words at face value. Amit Shah is a wolf walking around in sheep’s clothing.”
Both the Congress-led Opposition UDF and the CPI(M)-headed ruling lDF have already launched a huge campaign against the BJP in Vengara in the context of the Jana Raksha Yatra. “I am challenging Amit Shah to take the BJP’s Kerala march to Vengara and to prove his party’s prowess by winning the by-election,” Kodiyeri said.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress also came out against the BJP president’s Payyannur speech on Wednesday. “Amit Shah should understand that Kerala is not Gujarat. The speech he had made at Payyannur the other day was extremely provocative,” he said, adding that BJP’s Kerala march was “Swayam Raksha Yatra”.