The Kerala Police under the CPI(M)-headed lDF Government is unlikely to register a case against Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, State secretary of the CPI(M) and former Home Minister, over a controversial speech — described by many as highly provocative — he had made on July 24 in which he allegedly exhorted party activists in Kannur, known for its history of political murders, for perpetrating violence against RSS and BJP.
The State police have reportedly come to the decision that there was no need to register a case against Kodiyeri over the speech on the basis of the legal advice that there was no incitement to violence, call to hold riots or threat in Kodiyeri’s speech. The Opposition parties had demanded registration of a case against Kodiyeri immediately after his controversial speech.
However, DGP loknath Behera said on Sunday that no final decision had been taken on the matter. “The media reports in this regard seem to be wrong. I am yet to receive legal opinion in this matter. A final decision can be taken only after that,” Behera said while sources suggested that chances of registering a case against the CPI(M) leader were remote.
After receiving complaints from the Opposition parties on Kodiyeri’s speech, the DGP had asked a team to examine the voice and video recordings and transcript of the speech in order to assess whether it warranted registration of a case. However, sources in the police said that there were precedents in which cases had not been taken over similar speeches made by political leaders.
State BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan said his party would approach the court if the Government and the police continued with their inaction over the issue. “Anyone who has heard that speech of Kodiyeri would agree that he was openly exhorting his partymen for violence. Prosecution proceedings should be initiated against him,” Kummanam said.
Speaking at a function organized at Payyannur in Kannur district on July 24 to protest against the murder of a CPI(M) activist, CV Dhanaraj (38), allegedly by RSS-BJP activists on the night of July 11, Kodiyeri had given a call to his partymen to “settle accounts instantly” with the enemies who dared to attack Marxists.
Within just three hours of Dhanaraj’s murder at his house at Ramanthali in Payyannur, a gang of suspected CPI(M) killers had stabbed to death local BMS leader and BJP activist CK Ramachandran (48), an autorikshaw driver, at his residence about nine kilometres away from Dhanaraj’s place. The BJP-RSS had denied any role in the murder of the CPI(M) worker.
“There should be no attacks from our side towards houses and shops. But if anybody attacks us, we should settle accounts. We should decide that we would not let go unharmed anybody coming to attack us. Therefore, (the RSS and BJP) should not try to play with the CPI(M),” Kodiyeri had said at the function.
“(The RSS and BJP) should realize that the wages for work in the field would be paid there itself,” Kodiyeri said to mean that any BJP-RSS attack on CPI(M) men would meet with instant retaliation. The youth in the party should be given physical training along with political education to defend themselves against the RSS and BJP, he added.
“You would not be living in Kerala if you think that the police under the Government of the CPI(M) will book its own State chief over such a matter,” said a BJP leader from Kannur. “We have seen this earlier. P Jayarajan (CPI(M)’s Kannur district secretary) had made a similar speech sometime ago at Kattakkada, Thiruvananthapuram. He was not booked,” he said.
On Thursday, Kodiyeri himself had justified his speech by saying that there was nothing illegal in it. Even the Constitution had permitted acts of self-defence and his reference in the speech was only to the need of self-defence, he said. The CPI(M) leader also said that he was ready to face any consequence and to even go to the jail for his speech.