BJP party President Amit Shah on Tuesday inaugurated the party’s Jana Raksha Yatra in Payyannur, Kerela. Before the launch of the 15-day long yatra, Shah offered prayers at the famous Rajarajeswara Temple in Taliparamba of Kannur district.
The party President is on a three-day visit to the state, during his visit he will launch the ‘Jan Raksha Yatra’ (people’s protection march) on 3 Oct and will be holding two public meetings on 4 and 5 Oct.
Ahead of the launch of the yatra, Union minister Prakash Javadekar, while addressing a press conference on Monday accused the Left party of being on a killing spree against its workers. He also accused the CPI(M) of murder politics. Javedkar attacking the ruling government in Kerela said that they were scared of the BJP’s growing popularity and hence had started sponsored violence against its workers.
He further added that due to the desperation of the CPI(M), it is playing murder politics and because of that many CPI(M) leaders are quitting the party to join BJP. Javedkar assured that BJP will not sit quiet, it will use democratic means to answer its violence.
These angry statements coming from the BJP are a result of the killing of as many as 120 BJP workers, 84 in Kannur alone since 2001.
Responding to these allegations the CPI(M) denied any involvement of its government and leadership in political killings. The party in return accused the BJP and RSS of spreading violence in the state. The party underlined that the ‘M’ in CPI(M) stood for “Maoists” and not “Marxists”.
The yatra launched by BJP is clearly aimed at mobilising the cadre and the public opinion against the CPI(M) led government who according to the BJP has been on a killing spree, accusing the state government of particularly targeting the RSS workers.
The BJP even accused the Chief Minister of playing murder politics, replying to which Pinarayi Vijayan hit back saying that BJP is only frustrated since its RSS agenda has not been gaining ground in the state and the party is not able to attract as many supporters as they had expected.
Meanwhile, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, in his statement to the press said that those who are responsible for these killings in Kerela are running a parallel system that to the government and they are running it above the constitutional system. This system is dominating the constitutional system in Kerela and is trying to destroy it.
This is the reason that the BJP is protesting against them but in a democratic way and the party also wants that the entire country should be made aware of the prevailing situation in Kerela.
On the other hand, COngress leader Tom Vaddakkan said that more such rallies are down the path as this is just the beginning. He further added that it a discovery mission as essentially BJP and its team have to discover the state because Kerela is another ball game. He also said that the BJP Chief, Amit Shah has been frequently visiting the state and has been telling his workers that they should try and win the faith of as many voters as possible.
According to the sources during the 15-day long yatra, at least one Union minister would be present on each day of the march and some BJP chief ministers might also join them. Among the Minister likely to attend the yatra are, Union ministers Ananth Kumar, Smriti Irani, Giriraj Singh, V K Singh, Dharmendra Pradhan, Javedkar and few others.
The Yatra is not only focusing on accusing the ruling government of killing the RSS workers but also is played as a step towards making the party’s presence be known in the state and winning their confidence ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due in 2019. Since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP has managed to gain a little more strength in the state. In 2014 it got 10% of the votes while in 2016 during the state assembly elections it managed an increase of 5 %. Though BJP had won only one seat during the polls but it was considered as their entry to the assembly.
BJP seems to be confident about a triangular contest between the CPI(M)-led LDF, Congress-led UDF and BJP. The party also assured that it has already allied with some smaller outfits in the state.
RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat had also indirectly targeted the Kerela government, while addressing the gathering on the occasion of Dushera on 30 Sep. The RSS leader in his speech has said that everyone knows what is happening in Kerala and Bengal, the Jihadi forces are active there and the people are protesting but the state government is not carrying out its obligation.