Vijayan responsible for violence in Kerala, says Amit Shah

Kannur: BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Kerala's ruling LDF, saying Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was to blame for the murders of BJP and RSS workers in the state.

An aggressive Shah said that as many as 120 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) workers had been murdered in Kerala since 2001 and asked the CPI-M-led LDF government to let the people know who was responsible for the killings.

"I am asking Chief Minister Vijayan: Who has killed BJP and RSS workers in Kerala. If he does not have answers, then I am saying that Chief Minister Vijayan is himself responsible for the killings," Shah thundered before flagging off the party's "Jana Raksha Yatra" or "March for People's Protection" from Kannur district.

The BJP leader said political violence shoots up in Kerala whenever the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) comes to power.

"We have lost 120 of our cadres following attacks by the Communists. What they fail to realise is with each attack, the BJP gains strength.

"It's time the CPI-M introspects as across the world the Communists have shrunk because of their violence," said Shah, speaking in Hindi.

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The march, a show of force by the BJP and the RSS, will pass through 11 of the 14 districts in Kerala and end in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17 when Shah will be present again.

Shah said the march was a non-violent protest against political killings.

"We are starting the march from Kannur because it is the Chief Minister's home district. Kerala was always known as the land of Sree Narayana Guru, Ayyankali and Chattambi Swami but now it is known as the land where blood is spilled," he said.

Shah, who walked seven kilometers accompanied by hundreds of BJP supporters, many of them carrying the party flag, was also critical of human rights activists whom he accused of raking up issues of intolerance only when it suited them.

"They should not be selective while speaking of intolerance. Such people should speak of intolerance when BJP/RSS workers also lose their lives."

Various BJP Union Ministers are expected to walk with the 'yatra' every day. On Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be the chief attraction.

After a day's visit to Karnataka on Wednesday, Shah will return to Kerala on Thursday and walk 12 km, including past the home of Chief Minister Vijayan in Pinarayi area.

He will address a BJP gathering at Tellichery, considered a Communist stronghold.

Shah also announced that from Wednesday, until October 17, BJP workers will march every day to the AKG Bhavan, the CPI-M headquarters, in New Delhi in protest against the political violence in Kerala.

The BJP is desperately trying to up its political profile in Kerala, where the two main traditional fronts are led by the CPI-M and the Congress. The BJP has only one member in the 140-member Kerala Assembly.

With IANS inputs