Kannur district, known as Kerala’s capital of Marxist violence, has returned to turbulence after a brief lull but this time the CPI(M) is only on the sidelines of the violence and the actual strife in the region is between two community-based parties, the Muslim league and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political wing of Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI).
At least 30 cases of violence had been registered by the police in the Taliparamba and Payyannur areas in northern Kannur within four days till Sunday. The violence started on April 10, the day of polling in Kerala to its 20 seats, after an SDPI office in Taliparamba came under attack.
A group of unidentified people vandalised the constituency office of the Muslim league in Taliparamba Saturday night intensifying the violence in the area. The police took out a march in Taliparamba and it is brought under prohibitory orders for ten days.
The miscreants entered the office by removing tiles from the building roof broke window panes, destroyed the furniture, a TV set and other things in the office and vandalized the secretary’s chamber. Police said there had also been an attempt to set the party office on fire.league activists, who alleged that the attack was handiwork of the SDPI with the help of the CPI(M), on Sunday took out a march in Taliparamba to protest against the vandalisation of their office which led to further conflicts. Several shops were attacked by the activists. Three SDPI workers suffered injuries in the clashes on Sunday.
Sources in the police said that a minimum of ten cases of violence had been reported from Taliparamba alone since the polling day, April 10. A large number of police personnel headed by a Deputy Superintendent have been deployed in the strife-hit areas. Taliparamba had witnessed intense violence two years ago.