Marxists, known traditionally as materialists and atheists, held colourful cultural processions on the occasion of Sri Krishna Jayanti on Saturday in Kerala’s politically tense Kannur district even as the State virtually turned into a Gokul Dham with children dressed like Sri Krishna and gopis filling the streets in the Shobha Yatras organised by Hindu children’s outfit Bala Gokulam.
While the CPI(M) was accused of organising the processions on the particular day in Kannur, known for its history of murderous conflicts between it and the RSS, to check the massive flow of its activists and sympathisers into the BJP, the party leadership claimed that the processions were not meant to celebrate Janmashtami but to mark the conclusion of the Onam festival.
Recent reports from Kannur, known as Kerala’s Marxist capital, have been indicating that the CPI(M) has been steadily losing its Hindu support bases in its ‘party villages' and that its workers and sympathisers were joining the BJP in large numbers. Observers interpreted Saturday’s programme, held in the name of the party’s feeder outfit Bala Sangham, as part of its ‘desperate bid’ to keep these support bases intact.
“This is perhaps the first time a Sri Krishna Jayanti had been celebrated without Krishna adorning the central place. But the fact is that the Marxists seem to be determined to pursue this line. They had organized the Ganeshotsav also by making lord Ganesha wear red robes,” a senior editor of a leading Malayalam daily said.
The BJP and the RSS had alleged that the CPI(M)'s “Ghosha Yatras” on Sri Krishna Jayanti, an occasion Kerala had been celebrating peacefully and joyfully for the past several decades, was part of that party's deliberate attempt to push the already tense district into further trouble.
The police had brought all sensitive areas in the district, including those where large-scale violence had taken place between the CPI(M) and the BJP till three days back, under tight security cover to avoid conflicts between the two sides when their respective processions took place at the same time in various villages in the district and the Kannur town.
Despite the police's efforts to avoid face-to-face arrival of the Bala Sangham's cultural processions and the Bala Gokulam's Shobha Yatras, processions did take place simultaneously in the streets in some towns of the district. However, the police managed to ensure that the situation did not slip into confrontation.
Though the Bala Sangham's cultural procession was intended as an event of the children, pro-CPI(M) people of all age-groups participated in them. Apart from children wearing colourful dresses, Red volunteer bands and women clad in traditional Kerala dress of Settu Mundu made the CPI(M)'s event a huge spectacle.
local committees of the CPI(M) were in charge of organizing the Bala Sangham's “Ghosha Yatras” in 187 villages in the district. Branch committees under the respective local committees had been given clear instructions on various aspects of the processions. Though there was specific instruction to avoid religious symbols, these did find place in some of the processions.
“In effect, the Sri Krishna Jayanti has been turned into an occasion for show of strength by rival political parties. I don't find it strange that the Marxists have resorted to this considering the political realities of Kannur. I am sure we will see more such events in the future,” said Sasidharan, a retired police official from Koothuparambu in Kannur.
In the context of Intelligence warnings that the processions being organised by the political opponents simultaneously at the same places could worsen the law and order situation, the district had been brought under tight security. Apart from the regular police, personnel of Armed Police and Rapid Action Force had also been deployed.
At the same time, thousands of Shobha Yatras were organised in Kerala by Bala Gokulam on Saturday as part of the Sri Krishna Jayanti celebrations. The processions, with the presence of children dressed like Sri Krishna, Radha and Gopikas, turned streets of Kerala into virtual Gokulams.