New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah has fired a salvo at Kerala chief minister Pinayari Vijayan and accused the senior CPM member of being directly responsible for the violence.
"The bloodstains of more than 120 BJP and RSS workers killed in political violence in Kerala are on your (Vijayan's) clothes. You are directly responsible for killing of CPM's opponents," Shah said at the beginning of a 14-day 'Jan Raksha Yatra' from Payyanur, seen as a Left stronghold. Kannur, the site of particularly bloody clashes, is the CM's home district.
The yatra slogan, "All have to live! Against jihadi-red terror" reflects the BJP narrative that Left and Islamist extremists have joined hands against the Modi government.
It also underlines the charge that non-BJP governments like in Kerala do not act against Islamist fundamentalism, and is part of BJP's efforts to boost its profile and electoral prospects in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Recalling the contributions of renowned social reformers from Kerala like Sri Narayana Guru, Adi Shankaracharya and Chattambiswamikal, Shah said the region had historically been peace-loving. The trend of enlightened reform, he added, had been corrupted by CPM, which had "targeted its political adversaries".
"Violence was not the culture of Kerala but CPM has spoiled the state. The chief minister himself is responsible, as 84 BJP and RSS cadres have been killed in his home district of Kannur," Shah said. Thousands thronged the venue from where the march was launched.
He alleged that wherever the communists had been in office, like Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, they indulged in political violence against critics and political adversaries. Shah also attacked human rights activists who criticised deaths at UP hospitals, including one in Gorakhpur, the hometown of CM Yogi Aditya Nath, for being selective.
"Activists attacked BJP after deaths in a few hospitals in north India, but they have been silent about political killings in Kerala. Your (activists) silence raises questions about your allegiance. I want to ask the champions of human rights, why have you closed your eyes to red terror? Let me remind you, violence has no colour," Shah said.