A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker in Kannur was arrested on Friday in connection with a bomb hurled near a Communist Party of India function at Thalassery in Kerala on January 26, ANI reported. In the attack, which took place 200 metres away from the meeting venue where CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was speaking, a Democratic Youth Federation of India member was injured.
The CPI(M) had alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party and RSS workers were behind the incident. There have been several violent attacks on members of the Left and BJP/RSS in the state in the past few months, but the two sides have been sparring with each other for over four decades now. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said that political violence in Kerala was started by the RSS. “Unfortunate, but this is the type of politics RSS practises,” he alleged.
BJP officers at Mattannur, Naduvanad and Ulikkal were attacked hours after the incident, reported The Hindu. The BJP also called for a strike in the area after tension escalated. Balakrishnan had appealed to his party workers to be careful about such provocations and not react violently, reported The News Minute. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday had promised to take strict action against those behind the incident.
Kerala has recently witnessed several incidents of political violence involving BJP-RSS and CPI(M) workers. On January 18, a BJP worker was stabbed to death at his residence and six CPI(M) workers were arrested in connection with the murder. There have been at least eight political murders in Kerala since the LDF government came to power in May 2016. Both RSS and CPI(M) have blamed the other for the bloodshed.
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