BJP chief Amit Shah wrapped up his 15-day 'Jan Raksha Yatra' on Tuesday
Wrapping up the 15-day relay walk or
padhyatra against what the BJP says is the ruling CPM's "murder politics", BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to take moral responsibility for the "killing of 13 innocent BJP and RSS workers" in Kerala since May 2016 and fight the BJP on "development and ideology".
Mr Shah said the ruling party was mistaken if it thought that the BJP and RSS workers could be eliminated or cowed down through violence.
"I would like to tell CPM that it is not possible," the BJP chief said at the conclusion of the 'Jan Raksha Yatra' that attempted to project the BJP and RSS as victims of political violence by the ruling CPM. The rally, however, has already succeeded to make the BJP - that won 1 seat in the 2016 assembly seat despite an 11 per cent vote share - a talking point in the state.
The BJP president said the maximum killings had taken place in the Chief Minister's home town, Kannur and he couldn't evade responsibility. "I am asking the Kerala chief minister, whether he is prepared to take moral responsibility for the killings," he said, hours after the CBI told the Kerala High Court earlier in the day that it was willing to probe of the killing of RSS and BJP workers in the state.
"This must not happen to anyone else. At least now after this yatra, people must understand," said Reena Rajesh, wife of a RSS worker allegedly killed by Left workers.
Kannur, the epicentre of political violence between the Right and Left cadres, was also where the
yatra spent the maximum time.
The BJP says since 2001, nearly 120 of its workers have been killed across the state by Left cadres. In the 16 months since the LDF government came to power in May 2016, 14 of the attacks took place in Kannur.
Crime Bureau statistics of the state police, however, show that 45 CPM activists, 44 of the BJP, 15 of the Congress and four from the Muslim League have been killed since 1991 in Kannur.
The CPM countered the roadshow in Kerala with protests in Delhi, accusing the BJP of provoking its cadres.
CPM leaders blame the BJP for the death of 55-year-old Raveendran in Kannur during a bomb attack on a recent rally. Senior CPM leader Sitaram Yechury added it was the BJP that had been "inciting violence and blaming CPM for the same... If they continue like this, they will not even have 1 MLA".
Turning to the Congress, Mr Shah said former chief minister Oommen Chandy and some of his colleagues were smeared in "solar scam" and blamed the Chief Minister of delaying action against the accused even though the commission set up to probe the scam had submitted its report.