`Samurai country’ in Kerala turns into real battleground

The fresh bout of violence which has already claimed four lives since yesterday erupted following thesavage killing of Yuva Morcha state vice president K T Jayakrsihnan inside a class room at Mokeri. Jayakrishnan, a teacher of Mokeri East UP School was killed while teaching his students. Surprisingly, none of the teachers unions have so far condemned the killing of a teacher before the eyes of his students.

As jurist Krishna Iyer, who had initiated an independent peace mission to end political violence in Kannur has put it, “The killing of a teacher in front of his students, that too on the premises of an educational institution, is highly deplorable. Whatever be political leanings, such heinous acts reflect barbarianism."

The running battles between the CPM and its foes date back to pre Independence days when the undivided Communist party started fighting the Congress for survival. The party had fought and won most of its battles against the Congress and by the end of 1950s it became a major force in Malabar.

The battles, however, did not end there. The Communists liberated villages from the Congressand turned them into their own strongholds. The CPM, which had eclipsed the CPI after the split in 1964, had as many as 70 pocketboroughs in the 1970s.

The RSS, which sneaked into the district in the late 60s, became “enemy number one” of the CPM since the latter began making inroads into the CPM bastions. The ongoing battle between the two in Kannur is thus a war being waged either for capturing or protecting their own strongholds, better known as party villages.

The leadership of the CPM and the Sangh Parivar give different reasons for the recurring political violence in Kannur. According to BJP-RSS leaders, political intolerance of the CPM is the root cause of political violence. The CPM leaders point out that the RSS and the BJP which are fighting the CPM because it is trying to protect the minority communities from the Sangh Parivar.