leaderships of Kerala’s CPI(M) and BJP-RSS on Saturday reached an agreement to take steps for ending conflicts in Kannur, where scores of activists from both sides have lost lives in political violence in the past four decades, and to make the district a better place to live in by restoring and maintaining peace.
“Both sides – CPI(M) and BJP-RSS – declared full support to all efforts aimed at ensuring peace and tranquility in the society,” State BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan told newsmen after an hour-long bilateral meeting between the top leaderships of the two parties on Saturday morning in Kannur, infamous as Kerala’s political killing field.
“The two sides held open discussions on the incidents and issues in Kannur. leaders have decided to take effective measures for restoring peace in sensitive areas of the district, especially Payyannur and Thalassery, the two places that had seen escalation in violence in recent times,” said State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan after the meeting.
The meeting was held as part of an initiative that began on July 31 under the leadership of Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the context of the four-day-long violence involving both parties in the capital city, Thiruvananthapuram, in which an RSS leader was hacked to death by Marxist killers and the BJP’s State office came under attack from CPI(M) activists.
Pinarayi had presided over a meeting of top State leaders of the CPI(M), BJP and RSS in Thiruvananthapuram last Monday. Subsequently, district-level bilateral meetings were held in Thiruvanantha-puram and Kottayam, another place that had witnessed violence. An all-party peace meet is scheduled to be held on Sunday in Thiruvananthapuram.
As per the understanding reached at in the meeting, both sides would instruct their workers activists to abstain from activities that could trigger trouble. Even if any untoward incident takes place, local leaderships would take immediate steps to contain it. They also decided to convey the peace meet’s message to leaders and workers at all levels within ten days.“The CPI(M)’s State committee had the other day decided that party activists should not initiate provocative actions anywhere. As per this, partymen would be given strict instructions not to do anything that goes against this decision,” Kodiyeri said.
As a first step in the initiative for peace, bilateral discussions will be held in Payyannur on August 11 and in Thalassery on a later date. “The next step will be to involve the State Government in the process. The all-party meeting will examine what kind of intervention the Government can and should make in Kannur,” Kodiyeri said.
“The meeting decided that there shouldn’t be another unfortunate incident,” he said. Still, if an incident occurred, the district and regional leaderships of the responsible party should instantly intervene to avert the spread of conflict, he added while Kummanam said, “Even a single drop of blood should not be shed.”
Apart from Kodiyeri and Kummanam, RSS Pranth Karyavah P Gopalankutty Master, CPI(M)’s Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan, whom the Sangh Pariwar views as the fountainhead of violence in Kannur, and his BJP counterpart Sathyprakash participated in the bilateral meeting held at Kannur’s Government Guest House.
Kodiyeri told newsmen that the meeting was held in a “cordial atmosphere” while a top RSS functionary from Kannur said the tension “usually seen during peace talks in Kannur” was absent this time. Also, the media was allowed to capture the pre-meeting visuals of gestures of friendship among the participating leaders unlike in the case of the two meetings in Thiruvananthapuram.
According to observers, Saturday’s meeting has been successful in creating a general impression that both sides had shown an open and warm approach to the issues prevailing in the violence-ravaged district. Most peace meets in Kannur in the past had witness intense disputes and truce pacts used to be violated within days of such meetings.