THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Apart from the failure of law and order machinery to contain political killings in Kannur, the top leadership of the CPM and RSS-BJP also cannot escape from taking the blame for failing to rein in their violent cadres on the ground. The brutal killing of CPM worker and the retaliatory murder of the BJP leader, indicated that the peace initiatives taken by the top leadership could be rendered useless with such mindless attacks any moment. The killings have yet again derailed the peace process set in motion by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan last year.
The CPM had come under severe pressure from various quarters to stop politics of violence following the brutal murder of youth congress leader Shuhaib Edyannur. At the party state conference in Thrissur, the leadership and delegates favoured peace efforts. But at the same time the leadership clarified that peace could not be maintained at the cost of the lives of their cadre and the party would reserve the right to defend its workers from the murderous attacks of BJP-RSS.
At the peace meetings held in Kannur and other parts of the state over the last one and half years, the CPM and BJP-RSS had agreed to take measures for diffusing tension at the local level. The leaders were in favour of putting in place a mechanism for resolving hostilities at the local level since such fights often ended up in gruesome killings.
It was decided that the district and local leadership would strictly monitor violence prone areas. Even in the event of a minor clash, the local leadership will promptly intervene in the matter and avoid further escalation of violence. But even the internal appeals made by the two organisations to maintain maximum restraint even in the event of grave provocation, had failed to rein in cadres. Sources said the ongoing peace meetings between the leadership of the CPM and RSS-BJP in Kannur were aimed at deliberating the unilateral violation of peace treaty in the trouble torn district and to devise ways for preventing murderous attacks and retaliatory attacks in future.
However, experts said setting up an effective peace mechanism in a politically volatile district like Kannur was easier said than done. The cadres of the two organisations are working in a highly surcharged atmosphere and even a minor incident could trigger violence. Moreover, many workers believe that one sided “ahimsa” would always be taken as weakness of the party and its leadership to protect its cadre
