The Hammer, the Sickle & the Trident.

If someone asks me that what is the distance from God's own country to  the Godforsaken country, I would promptly answer that it is the width of the river of blood of 969 people hacked to death since 1946 in Kerala over political issues. 

Kerala had always been a politically sensitive state thanks to high levels of literacy, a diverse population of varying religions and ideologies. We have kids who adore Che Guvera and Veer Savarkar, literature that praises Saddam and Stalin, educational institutions sworn to political parties and hordes of men ready to die for their cause. Kerala is a unique mix where you find intellectual’s turns to goons and the goons are often Phd holders. Yes we are a real nut case as Swami Vivekananda once observed.

Kannur, a northern district of Kerala first made its appearance in the annuals of history as the bastion of Pazhyi Raja, the chieftain who waged a guerrilla war against the British rule. Kannur has a history of martial prowess and is still glorified with display of Theyyam, training in kalaripayittu and occasionally fatal violence. The early struggles in the history of district was between the goons of the landlords and first generation communists. After the fall of feudalism, the struggle shifted to beedi (country cigarette) factories where the cooperative factories run by the communist trade unions clashed with the workers of private companies. Many of these private workers were immigrants from the neighboring state of Karnataka where right wing Jana Sangh, a precursor of the BJP was strong. The state of emergency in 1975 fueled both communist as well as the Sangh growth in Kerala as both of them worked actively but independently against it. The upper cast Hindu gravitated towards the RSS fold while the middle level Ezhavas flocked to the communist side. With the conclusion emergency, both the groups had established fortified (figure of speech) villages and shakas (basic unit of RSS functionaries) where arms, ammunition and men to wield them were plenty.

Kannur is home to several stalwarts of the communist party including AK Goplan, EK Nayanar and Pinarayi Vijayan. Meanwhile the serene Payyambalam beach in Kannur is the final resting place of many leaders of the state and all of this made the district the de facto Mecca of Indian Communists. The growth of right wing RSS whose ideologies are polar opposite to the commies was initially an irritation, then a menace and recently a threat for the CPI(M). Aggressive campaigning and increase in number of shakas with the dominance of Sangh affiliated parties elsewhere in India resulted the increase in electoral capital of BJP in the state.

Let us ask a nonpolitical, everyman in Kerala a question.

“Who did you vote for and why?”

“The congress, because there will be less violence”

People prefer a party notorious of corruption, nepotism and scandals over viable alternatives. Why?

Records show that of the 96 political killings recorded in Kannur since January 1995, 42 were victims affiliated to the BJP-RSS and 40 were from the CPI(M). Yes there is violence from other parties in the state too but a tit for tat coffin count is often seen between the game of deaths played by the Communist and their Sangh rivals. One group wants to consolidate their power while the other attempts to wrench it away. In the recent election trends, it was seen that the opposition UDF headed by the Congress is on a decline while the LDF throned by CPI(M) holds hegemony against an rapidly rising BJP which leads the NDA. The generous support offered by the central government and out of state players gives fuel for the BJP to push its agenda in the state and have succeeded in placing themselves in a firm position. They managed to win a seat at the state assemble after 60 years and came up close second in several places and also in the local elections at the state capital BJP emerged as the primary opposition. 

The CPI(M) though the strongest party in the state began to feel the heat at their heels and initated counter measures to check this growth of BJP. The right wing on the other hand pushed hard to make space for their roots to run deep and once the unstoppable force met the immovable wall, violence erupted.

It is said that in politics, power is supreme and there is no limit for the measures one could take to grab that power. Killings and revenge killings forms the ultimate atrocity perpetuated by political parties to achieve this goal. Kerala is not the first place in the world to witness political murders and will definitely not be the last yet what is most disturbing is that this fatal wastage of human lives is happening in the most developed, literate and en-lighted society in India.

In war, it is always the pawns that get slaughtered en mass while the dukes and kings live in relative comfort. In this new age political battle the losers are almost always the foot soldiers of the respective parties who hail from low income, socially backward and often broken families while the leaders and their families lives in safety and comfort. In few occasions, attacks have happened on leaders too but they are statically few. The people who perpetuates violence too are of the same back ground and in many events the murderer in a crime becomes the victim in the next and the cycle goes on.  These political vendettas once endemic to Kannur district now have sprouted to many including the capital district of Trivandrum.

The legal proceedings of such crimes often get entangled in red tape and drags into decades while the mob would have had their justice long before. The new case will then begin its tedious crawling through the slush of judiciary. It is just not enough to condemn when a violent act takes place and a wife becomes a widow or a son an orphan but definite steps must be taken to curb this cancer of political violence.

I for one recommend a dedicated task force selected from the state and central police force with both investigative and law and order divisions to act against political violence; under the control of the election commission. The election commission is a preferred head for this purpose as they are free from the interference of both state and central governments and also a division of court exclusively for political crimes. These measures will take much man power and will to achieve but keeping in mind that every life lost is a world collapsed, we the people inclusive of Commies, Sanghies and you Congies can build a better, safer tomorrow for us and our children.

Psss..... All images are random ones collected through a google search, the statistics are all adopted from various news articles including Indian Express, The Hindu and Times of India.

Psss 2... Commie - Communists; Sangi - RSS/BJP worker, Congi - Congress worker.

Pssss 3.... In retaliation to the North Indian media paining Kerala as a killing field (I am looking at you Republic & co) Malayalees have pulled up the statics which shows our murder and violence rate is very less compared to elsewhere in the country. Though I am glad to hear it, those small numbers in the list are lives ended, families shattered and dreams turned to ashes. With our level of social development, nothing but a new age Utopia must flourish here.