india

Updated: Nov 19, 2019 20:48 IST

A CPI (M) leader in Kerala has sparked a major controversy with a claim that some Muslim extremist outfits are supporting Maoists in the state.

“We have information that some Muslim extremist outfits are supporting Maoists in north Kerala. There is a new-found bonhomie between them. Some Kozhikkode-based extremist organizations are behind this. We need police to probe this,” P Mohanan, Kozhikkode district secretary of the CPI(M) said at a party function in Thamarassery on Monday. “Muslim extremist outfits are providing water and manure to Maoists.”

But he did not name any outfits.

His comments which came after the death of four Maoists in an encounter with the police last month and the arrest of two CPI (M) workers - Taha Fazal and Alan Shuhaib - under the Unlawful Prevention of Activities Act for their alleged nexus with Maoists, found resonance with the opposition BJP.

“We have been saying this for quite some time. During day time they will be CPI (M) workers but at night they turn workers of fundamentalist outfits. We are happy the party realized this at least now,” said BJP leader K B Gopalakrishnan.

The killing of four Maoists in an alleged encounter last month and the police decision to slap UAPA on two CPI(M) workers for distributing Maoist pamphlets had angered many especially Left intellectuals and supporters and even threatened to cleave the Left Front government.

The CPI which had alleged that the encounter was a fake one and had also criticized the arrest of the two CPI (M) supporters, did not agree with Mohanan’s views.

“I don’t know in which context he mixed both. We never heard of any such theory. Our party feels bullets are no answer for ideological and political differences” CPI secretary Kanam Rajendran said after calling on the family Alan Shuhaib, one of the youth arrested under UAPA.

Many Muslim organizations have criticised the CPI(M) for blaming others for the deviation of its own cadres into extremist groups.

“Let the party first examine its cadres before blaming others,” said Muslim League leader P P Ummer Koya. Many writers and intellectuals have also crticised the CPIM). “No wonder, once they fall from grace they turn extremists in no time,” said writer and thinker Prof M N Karassery.

Parents of the two CPI (M) supporters maintained that they were innocent and charges against them were trumped up. Both are under judicial custody now.

The arrests had also come under fire from film personalities, writers and activists. Film director Adoor Gopalakrishnan, writer Satchithanandan, actor Joy Mathew and others said they never expected such a decision from the left front government. “We hope the government will withdraw such a notorious act,” Gopalakrishnan had said.

Four Maoists, including a high-ranking leader Manivasagam, were killed in Palakkad forests last month in an encounter with police commandos. The opposition Congress had also alleged that it was a fake encounter.