Speaking in Kannur yesterday, Kerala CPM secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that nobody has the right to question the army and that they (army) can abduct women, rape them and shoot people.

"They (army) can do anything to anybody. If they see more than four people standing together, they can shoot them...They can take any woman and rape her, nobody has the right to question them. This is the state wherever the army is," an ANI report quoted Balakrishnan as saying.

Kerala BJP State President Kummanam Rajasekharan had demanded the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Kerala's Kannur district after an RSS activist was hacked to death on May 12. The state BJP leadership accused CPM activists of the crime. The murdered RSS office bearer was an accused in the murder of a CPM worker.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who now has the additional charge of the Defence Ministry of India, said yesterday that the officers of the Indian Army should be given a free-hand to take decisions in war-like situations, that the officers are not bound to consult the members of Parliaments and that they can do as they deem fit.

Responding to these statements, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that if the Indian Army is deployed in Kannur, clashes are bound to happen between the people and the army.

In a Facebook post made on May 16 from his official account, Balakrishnan said that Kerala BJP's demand to impose AFSPA in Kannur is nothing but an act of adding fuel to the fire. He said that CPM is ready to take strict action against any party worker if found guilty of being involved in political murders in Kannur, that the party will not offer any kind of assistance or support to such workers, and asked Kummanam Rajasekharan if he could assure the same from the Bharatiya Janata Party's side.