‘Peace’ between CPM, BJP in Kannur worries Muslim League

 A perceptible de-escalation in tension between the CPI(M) and BJP-RSS in Kerala’s Kannur district – where hundreds of people had been killed in the past four decades in conflicts between the two sides – is causing worries to the Muslim League, second biggest constituent of the Congress-led ruling UDF.

The latest reason for worry for the Muslim League, which has of late been accused of taking a soft approach towards extremist elements by the Marxists, is the recent visit by Kannur district CPI(M) secretary P Jayarajan to the home of Sachin Gopal (20), an ABVP activist murdered by activists of the Islamist outfit, Popular Front of India (PFI).

The district leadership of the Muslim League feels that the CPI(M) and the BJP of Kannur district have buried their age-old enmity in order to take on that party in the context of the widespread allegation that it has been using its influence over the State Government to make undue gains.

“Has anything so important happened in Kannur district for the CPI(M) and the BJP-RSS to come together?” asked a district council member of the Muslim League. “This newfound love is intended at destroying us. Nobody even in his wildest dreams would ever think that the CPI(M) and RSS in Kannur district can become friends,” he said.

The Muslim League thinks that the change in the thinking in both the CPI(M) and BJP camps with regard to their relations had occurred after the intense standoff between it and the Marxists. Kannur had seen a spurt in clashes between the Muslim League and the CPI(M) recently leading to attacks on offices and homes of activists of both parties.

“Suddenly, there is no enmity between the CPI(M) and the BJP and it is quite surprising to anyone who knows anything about Kannur,” said a district Muslim League leader. “Both parties have till now been calling each other fascists and killers but now both of them are speaking about nothing but Muslims’ extremism,” he said.

“If Jayarajan had visited the ABVP activist’s house out of compassion for the murdered boy’s relatives, that feeling should have been seen in other cases also. Why had CPI(M) leaders not visited the homes of BJP’s Kannur general secretary Pannyannur Chandran and Yuva Morcha leader KT Jayakrishnan when they were killed?” asked the Muslim League leader.

The CPI(M) has adopted a position that there is no need to attach political importance to Jayarajan’s visit to Sachin’s house. “It is quite normal for leaders of political parties to visit houses of activists and leaders of other parties when there is a killing or death. One should not find politics in it,” Jayarajan said.

BJP sources in Kannur said that the change in the approach of the CPI(M) towards the BJP should be welcomed while the general public in Kannur seemed to be welcoming the change in mood in the two camps. “I don’t care about the politics but I would like to see these two parties living in peace,” said Sasidharan, a government employee from Koothuparambu, Kannur.

Sachin Gopal, a member of ABVP’s Kannur town committee, was attacked brutally by a gang of activists of PFI’s students’ wing Campus Front on July 6 at Pallikkunnu in Kannur while he was on a membership campaign. He succumbed to the hack injuries at a hospital in Mangalore on September 5.

The police the other day arrested Lateef (37), said to be the Kannur city president of the Popular Front, who had allegedly played a crucial role in the killing of Sachin Gopal. Investigators are of the feeling that the murder was committed as per a plan of the PFI and its political wing SDPI and they had used the Campus Front just as a cover.

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