Brutal killing of CPI(M) activist in Palakkad lays bare Kerala legacy of political murders

Giving a strange twist to the whole issue, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Sudhakaran has said the murder was the outcome of factionalism within the CPI(M).

“We have strong political disagreements with the BJP-RSS. But that must not be a ground for falsely accusing them of murder. We have clear information that both the killers and the killed belonged to the CPI(M), and the untoward incident resulted from a factional feud,” he said.

Kerala’s Tourism and PWD Minister PA Muhammed Riyas countered the claim of Sudhakaran by saying that two of the suspected assailants had left the CPI(M) long ago for the Sangh Parivar.

Meanwhile, the police are confirming the charge that the deceased — Shajahan — was a murder-accused out on bail, and that he had many enemies within and outside the CPI(M).

CPI(M) national general secretary Sitaram Yechuri and CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran both refused to subscribe to the CPI(M) state secretariat’s allegation. They told reporters they were waiting for the police investigation to confirm the motive for the murder.

Rising number of murders

A local committee member of the CPI(M), Shajahan was hacked to death at around 9.15 pm on Sunday near his house in Marutha Road. According to eyewitnesses, he was attacked with lethal weapons by a group of five to eight people. Though the police claimed they had already identified the gang, no arrest had been made until late Monday evening.

Though Palakkad is one of the relatively peaceful districts in Kerala, it has witnessed several political murders over the last three years.

On 19 April this year, three BJP-RSS workers were arrested in the district in connection with the murder of Popular Front of India (PFI) leader Subair, who was hacked to death in front of his father. Within 24 hours, RSS worker Srinivasan was hacked to death in the same locality, allegedly by five PFI activists.

In the last six years, Kerala has witnessed a steady increase in political murders using crude country bombs and lethal weapons, with the police failing miserably in stopping them as well as arresting the perpetrators. Rival political parties have accused the police of acting under political pressure and investigating cases in a way pleasing the ruling CPI(M).

Crude bombs in steel containers seized by police from Koothuparamba in Kannur on April 3, 2022. (SK Mohan/South First).

​Going by data from the Home Department,​ Kerala witnessed as many as 1,0​23 murders in the three years till ​Monday, and 130 among them are political murders.

Since January this year, eight political murder cases have been reported in the state. ​Officials have confirmed that there has been a spurt in organized attacks and murders in the ​last six years, ever since Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan started handling the Home portfolio.

​According to Sudhakaran, political murder cases are on the rise in Kerala because of the state’s poor law-and-order situation, and things were getting worse on a daily basis.

​In Kerala, political murders began in the 1970s in the Kannur district, with the CPI(M) and the RSS emerging as the top perpetrators.

Kerala’s history of violence

One of the most brutal political killings Kerala has witnessed was that of rebel CPI(M) leader TP Chandrasekharan 10 years ago at Onchiyam in the Kozhikode district. Chandrasekharan sustained 51 stab injuries, and those convicted for the murder included local leaders of the CPI(M).

A special police team that conducted an in-depth probe into the larger conspiracy angle of the killings pointed at some of the top CPI(M) leaders of the time. However, the CPI(M) returned to power in 2016 and scuttled the probe. Now, all those convicted in the case are said to have a luxurious life in jail and are even alleged to plot illegal activities from there.

Concerning the murder of two Youth Congress workers in Kasargod in February 2019,​ ​Kerala witnessed an unusual scene in which the Vijayan government vehemently opposed the plea for a CBI probe​ ​and even spent close to ₹1 crore to hire senior Supreme Court lawyers when the appeal was taken up in court.

Despite all these, the CBI took over the probe based on a Kerala High Court order. Vindicating the allegations of the Congress​ ​that the CPI(M) government wanted to sabotage the probe, the CBI arraigned former CPI(M)​ ​MLA KV Kunhiraman and several other local leaders of the party.

​According to ​CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, 588 CPI(M) workers were​ ​murdered over the years by political opponents, of which BJP-RSS workers were responsible for 215. Since the​ ​Pinarayi Vijayan ​government came to power in 2016, 20 CPI(M) workers have been murdered, of​ ​which 15 were by BJP-RSS, he said.

Congress ​leader KC Joseph ​has pointed out that there​ was a slight decline in political killings over the last few years as the BJP-RSS and the CPI(M) were in power in the​ ​Centre and the state, respectively.

​On 10 January, Youth Congress leader Nikhil Paily was arrested for stabbing 21-year-old engineering student Dheeraj Rajendran, an activist of CPI(M)’s student wing SFI. Dheeraj died on the spot, while two of his friends survived the repeated stabbing.

​Last ​December, ​the southern coastal town of Alappuzha witnessed two political murders within six hours. SDPI leader KS Shan was hacked to death by a BJP-RSS gang that knocked him down from his two-wheeler at a busy intersection using a hired car and created terror in the surroundings by setting off explosives.

In the retaliatory attack, BJP OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjith Sreenivas was brutally massacred by an SDPI gang that barged into his residence and made his mother, wife, two children, and brother watch.

Last ​November, RSS activist S Sanjith was hacked to death by suspected SDPI activists in broad daylight at Kinassery in Palakkad while he was travelling on a bike with his wife. A week earlier, CPI(M) activist PB Sandeep Kumar was hacked to death near Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta by suspected BJP-RSS activists when he was travelling with his wife and two kids.

Murders politicised, police weakened

Like everywhere else, political parties in Kerala are highly critical and contemptuous of the murders plotted and executed by their rivals. Whenever their cadres are killed by the opposing camp, these parties declare the victim a martyr and use the incident to reap political dividends.

However, each major political party nurtures its killer gangs rather than relying on hired assassins for “special occasions”. Youths with criminal backgrounds have become hit squads of political parties in recent years. These squads often attempt to outdo the brutality of the killings. Successive governments have kept the police force weak to shield and facilitate these gangs.

In the state, murder politics is not just about killers and their victims. Hundreds have survived the attacks but were maimed. The survival struggles of families that lost their breadwinners to political murders is another burning issue.

The ruling LDF, often accused of flexing its muscles against political opponents, is now finding it difficult to deal with the emerging situation where even smaller parties like the SDPI are plotting and executing murders.

With its pathetic performance, the intelligence wing of the Kerala Police is groping in the dark.

Another aspect of the murders is the lack of motive behind them. Minor provocations often end in considerable violence.

It was a fact that incidents of political murders were almost nil during the pandemic-induced lockdown. However, they started occurring once the rules were relaxed. They have also exposed the failures of Kerala’s Home Department.

Experts decry situation

“​It’s a shame for Kerala that political vengeance and murders remain part of its political narrative. Police reforms are the most effective solution to the emerging threat. The prevailing practice of the ruling dispensations using the police as a tool must end,” observed academic and social activist MN Karasaery.

“The Kerala Police has been criticized for letting antisocial and criminal gangs free run in recent years. On many occasions, the police used brutality on ordinary, innocent people. Police reforms and a collective vigil by civil society can prevent political murders in Kerala,” he added.

​​According to him, Kerala hiring top lawyers from Delhi and spending large amounts to defend CPI(M) members accused of murder has become the new normal.

“Earlier, political murders happened when belligerent cadres of rival parties engaged in spontaneous clashes. Now, most political murders are planned, with assassins hired by parties for huge sums. The BJP-RSS and the CPI(M) have a long history of unleashing terror in Kerala by killing opponents. The SDPI is a recent entrant in that field,” observed Thiruvananthapuram-based retired superintendent of police George Joseph.

​According to veteran journalist BRP Bhaskar, the BJP and the CPI(M) are better off ending the murder politics in Kerala as they are in power at the Centre and the state.

“The ruling parties are playing a leading role in Kerala’s political murders. They must denounce these killings and are duty-bound to prompt others to abstain from violence,” he said.