Thrissur: CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said political violence is not part of the party’s culture.

Delivering his inaugural speech at the CPM State Conference which began here today, Yechury said the party, will defend any attack on its workers.

However, Yechury said there have been some aberrations from the part of CPM as far as political violence is concerned.

"We will correct if there are aberrations. Political violence is not our culture. We will defend if we are attacked. We will take on opposing forces democratically. RSS is mainly responsible for the political violence in the state,” he said.

Yechury said 577 party workers have been killed in the state over the years. "The 577 torch marches that came to the state conference were from the 577 martyr's columns," he said.

Criticising the policies of the Centre, Yechury said when scams rocked UPA Government, Modi called Manmohan Singh ‘Maun’ (silent) Mohan Singh because Manmohan Singh had kept quiet on these scams. “Now we have to call our prime minister Modi as Maunendra Modi because he also keeps mum on various scams.”

He, however, did not refer to the recent murder of Youth Congress functionary Shuhaib, which has sparked a huge political debate in the state.

Yechury noted that it is nearly impossible to 'strike deal' with the neo-liberal policies. He also called on the party workers to stand united at a time when the party is facing huge challenges.