Two murders of senior political functionaries from SDPI and BJP have rocked Kerala’s Alappuzha, forcing the local administration to impose Section 144 in the district.
In two separate incidents, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) state secretary K.S. Shaan was attacked and murdered in Kerala’s Alappuzha on Saturday night. This was followed by a separate incident in which BJP OBC Morcha state secretary Renjith Sreenivasan was killed at his house by unidentified people early on Sunday morning in Alappuzha. According to the police, Shaan was on a two-wheeler when a gang in a car attacked him on Saturday night. Within 12 hours after Shaan’s murder, BJP OBC Morcha state secretary Renjith Sreenivasan was killed at his house by unidentified people early on Sunday morning in Alappuzha. Further investigation is underway.
SDPI State General Secretary P.K. Usman alleged that Shaan was brutally stabbed to death in Alappuzha by Sangh Parivar activists on Saturday night. Usman said, “He was brutally stabbed to death by Sangh Parivar activists. No human can so brutally kill others, only Sangh Parivar can do this.”
Sharply reacting to the killings in the Kerala district, BJP National General Secretary C.T. Ravi on Sunday accused the CPI(M)-led Kerala government of “turning ‘God’s Own Country’ into Jihadis Paradise”. Union Minister V Muraleedharan termed it as the “handy work of Islamic terrorist group”. “ I’ve been told that State Secy of BJP OBC Morcha was stabbed to death, this morning. This is the handy work of Islamic terrorist group is the info coming from Alleppey (Alappuzha). I demand the State government to take strict action against perpetrators,” he tweeted. He added, “This is not the first incident, a few weeks ago, a BJP worker was killed. The state had not taken the required action to prevent such incidents. They have been taking a soft stand with Islamic terrorists which has encouraged them to indulge in more violence.”