BJP calls for dawn-to-dusk hartal in the district today

In fresh escalation of tension, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker was hacked to death near Payyannur here on Friday by alleged Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] workers.

The deceased has been identified as Choorakkad Biju (34) of nearby Kakkampara. He was one of the accused in the murder of CPI(M) worker C.V. Dhanaraj at his house at Ramanthali, near Payyannur, on July 11 last year.

The police said that Biju was hacked to death on the Palakkot bridge, near Ramanthali, at 4 p.m. He was riding on a motorcycle when a car knocked down the two-wheeler and armed men inside the vehicle came out and hacked him to death. Details about the crime were being collected, the Payyannur police said. It was suspected to be a retaliatory attack, the police said.

The latest murder triggered tension in the Payyannur and nearby areas, which had been tense for months after the murder of Dhanaraj and the retaliatory murder of a Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh worker and autorickshaw driver C.K. Ramachandran within hours.

The police said additional police personnel were deployed in the tension-prone areas near Payyannur.

BJP hartal today

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would observe a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the district and in Mahe on May 13 in protest against the murder. A press release issued by the party district office said that milk supply, newspaper distribution, and other essential services were exempted from the hartal.

BJP district president P. Sathyaprakash alleged that the murder was plotted by the CPI(M) ‘top’ leadership. Alleging that the latest murder took place because of the failure of the police to act despite information of the CPI(M) leadership’s ‘conspiracy’ to eliminate leaders and workers of the Sangh Parivar here, he said the district administration and the police were acting as B-team of the CPI(M).

Stating that the murder occurred at a time when preparations were under way for the State conference of the pro-CPI(M) NGO Union here, the BJP leader alleged that in the past also the CPI(M) had spilled blood on such occasions to show its militancy to its leaders.

CPI(M) condemns it

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) denied that its workers were involved in the murder. Condemning the murder, the party district secretariat said in a statement that CPI(M) workers had been showing self-restraint since the all-party meeting here despite provocations on the part of the RSS. The party demanded that a comprehensive inquiry be conducted for nabbing the culprits behind the murder.

‘Clamp armed forces Act’

BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan has said that party leaders will meet Governor P. Sathasivam to submit a memorandum demanding clamping of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act on Kannur. Mr. Rajasekharan said the State government was unable to control the criminal activities in the district. The CPI(M) had unilaterally breached the peace accord in the district. Clamping of the Act was the sole option for ensuring law and order in the district, he said.