Multiple clashes between workers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh were reported in Kerala on Sunday, injuring at least four cadres of the RSS and three of the CPI(M) in separate incidents.
The four RSS workers, injured in an attack by unidentified men in Kannur district on Sunday night, were taken to hospital. No one has been arrested so far. The injured men are in their early twenties, police told Scroll.in.
This came soon after a crude bomb attack at a CPI(M) rally in Kannur, in which one person was injured, ANI reported.
Earlier in the day, seven workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party were arrested after they allegedly attacked a CPI(M) office in state capital Thiruvananthapuram. There were clashes between the two groups earlier as well in the city, in which two members of the CPI(M) were injured.
A day earlier, Thiruvananthapuram Mayor VK Prashanth was attacked during a council meeting, allegedly by BJP members. He is in hospital.
Scuffles between right-wing and left-wing activists have heated up in Kerala in the last few months, and multiple deaths have been reported on both sides. Official figures are not available, but according to data obtained from an RTI query, the BJP and CPI(M) have lost at least 30 workers each between 2000 to 2016. In this period, Kannur alone reported 69 political murders.
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