Thiruvananthapuram: Hindutva activists and Left workers fought pitched battles across the state, hurling crude bombs at police pickets, pelting stones, setting vehicles ablaze, damaging public property and party offices, leaving a bloody trail of destruction as the day-long hartal called by the Sabarimala Karma Samiti ended in the evening.
The mayhem left cores of police and party workers injured. The worst-hit was Palakkad, adjoining Coimbatore, and Neyyattinkara, Neduma-ngadu and Malayinkeezhu in Thiruvannathapuram.
The police arrested 745 party workers besides taking 628 suspects into preventive custody. More than 20 party offices of the ruling LDF bore the brunt of the Rightwing fury.
As the state plunged into chaos, Governor P. Sathasivam sought an “urgent report” from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the disturbances.
Most government offices remained almost closed as schools and colleges had a forced holiday on the day of reopening after Christmas vacation.
Sabarimala Karma Samiti activist Chandran Unnithan, 55, in Pandalam, succumbed to injuries in attack by pro-Left cadre, debunking the Chief Minister’s claim that he had died of cardiac arrest. Nine people were suspected and police arrested two CPM workers.
KSRTC managing director Tomin Thachankary said 100 KSRTC vehicles were destroyed in the attacks. He organised a convoy of the damaged buses along the arterial MG Road to drive home the message.
The spate of violence started with the BJP attack on the CPI office in Palakkad, which was in violation of an understanding the BJP leaders were able to hammer out with the cadre as they threatened to vandalise the CPM office.
In Thrissur, three BJP activists were stabbed during a scuffle with workers of the Social Democratic Party of India, the political wing of Popular Front of India, a militant Islamic outfit. The incident occurred as hartal-mongers tried to shutter a restaurant by force.
In Nedumangad, BJP workers blasted a country bomb at the police station. The main Opposition Congress separately observed a ‘black day’ to protest the entry of the women into Sabarimala temple.
