Thiruvananthapuram: Kannur’s macabre politics is punctuated only by its degree of horrendousness. Hope that sustains both victims and the assailants is wearing thin as the worst human retaliation visits even a relatively innocuous target. Is this to ensure the hegemony of ideologies or parties? Kerala’s best minds cry, Ma Nishada Paul Zacharia (Novelist and commentator): Political parties whom people entrust the all-important responsibility of managing their societies should be role-models of the finest civilisation values. In India and Kerala they have become forces of violence and corruption. Murder has become an easy tool to settle scores. Most often both the killer and the killed are equally products of the political dehumanisation.
What is most dangerous for Kerala is that the brutality of the political parties - murder, street violence, hartals, verbal abuse, lies - is brutalising Kerala as whole, especially the younger generation. The self-claimed mentors of the society like religions are dumb spectators, or even take sides. Most political murders are gang killings where right and wrong are indistinguishable. But, tragically, they become a horrendous burden on Kerala’s social life because so much empty noise is produced around them, so many lies told, and so much energy of the police and the media wasted.
Kerala has a thousand awesome problems to worry about. But, tragically, Kerala’s central social discourse is often wasted on these petty gang murders. The most frightening thing is that it is into the hands of these very same blood-thirsty men that we entrust our dreams and this precious homeland. N. S. Madhavan (Ex-bureaucrat and writer): Kannur is a shame for a state that prides itself for its high developmental indices. It is a blot on Kerala, which enjoys fair amount of tranquillity and for its people, who always keep their rulers on their toes.
I don't see these incidents as political violence, because violence can't be the tiebreaker in a democracy. It will be foolish to expect that these seemingly interminable cycles of vendetta killings would end either by one of the parties getting totally vanquished, or one of them miraculously has a change of heart and unilaterally declares ceasefire. No, such things are unlikely to happen. The government has to, and is duty-bound to, break this chain of murders. Enough laws and regulations are available on books to achieve that.
Kannur is primarily a governance issue. We know of places in India with longer and fiercer history of violence than Kannur, brought to peace in a matter of months. Strong police and civil administration, backed by the firm will of the government, can stop this dance of death. Stop it; meanwhile rhetoric can happen on the sidelines. Don't let Kannur to boil over further, because bad practices easily get picked up. Today Kannur, tomorrow?
Sugathakumari (Poet): Blood keeps spilling on the soil of Kannur and for so long now. We have lost track of the number of years. This has been happening in Kannur mainly because of political parties. If they had the willpower, bloodletting would have stopped. Unfortunately, no political party tries for it wholeheartedly. Kerala should bend its head in shame. Parties should let people live their normal lives than be caught in a savage tit for tat forever. Social critic M.N. Karassery says massive pressure from all corners has forced CPM to let the law to take its course in Shuhaib murder after many days.
“For the last many years CPM has been always on one side of the violence in Kannur. Promoting violence has to be a strict ‘no, no’ for a political party that rules the state. I do not doubt the efficiency of the state police. But police hands are tied. It was the stern stand taken by Kannur SP G. Shiva Vikram that led to the arrests. Historian M.G.S. Narayanan says CPM will be answerable to the next generation for patronizing goons and protecting murderers. Everybody now knows that CPM is behind the murder of Shuhaib. But they are trying to divert police investigation misusing their political clout.
