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In Kerala To Meet Family Of Slain RSS Worker, Arun Jaitley Comes Under Fire From CPI(M) Cadre

'Aren't Left workers' death important to the BJP?'
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley came under fire from CPI(M) cadre on Sunday during his visit to Kerala to meet the family of slain RSS worker E Rajesh.

According to The News Minute, a group of protestors gathered outside the Raj Bhavan for a sit-in in the state's capital Thiruvananthapuram, demanding Jaitley also meet the families of Left workers who have been killed in political violence over the years.

Mothers, sisters and other members of the dead men recalled the indifference with which the government at the Centre has treated their tragedies, as their sons and brothers were killed in clashes in a state that has, over the years, carved a reputation for political murders.

Earlier in the day, Jaitley had met the wife and two children of Rajesh, who was hacked to death a week ago in what is believed to be a politically motivated crime. The 31-year-old, who was found with 89 stab marks on his body, was an RSS worker since his boyhood. Jaitley described his killing as "most brutal".

"We will not forget this heinous act. I am here to express my solidarity on behalf of our party. The workers of Kerala are not alone, the whole nation is with you," he told the grieving family, while blaming the Left-ruled state government of perpetrating violence in Kerala.

However, police records with details of every political murder in Kerala between 2000 and 2017, which were accessed exclusively by NDTV, indicate that both parties are to be blamed almost equally for this state of anarchy. Over the last 17 years, 85 CPI(M) workers, 65 RSS/BJP workers and 11 people from the Congress and the IUML have been killed in Kerala, all of them in incidents of political rivalry.

Kannur district in the state is a notorious hub for such violence. NDTV also reports that according to the National Crime Records Bureau, since 1991, 45 CPI(M) workers and 44 RSS/BJP workers have been killed allegedly by political rivals in Kannur.

In spite of repeated calls for communal harmony, nothing tangible has been achieved since the Left Front government came to power under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last year. Only a few weeks ago, a CPI(M) activist called Sreejan Babu was attacked by nine masked men, leaving him severely wounded.

The decades-old cycle of killing and revenge simply doesn't seem to let up.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.