New Delhi: With Kerala becoming one of the major target areas of the BJP, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath would be visiting the state on Wednesday. On Tuesday, BJP chief Amit Shah launched his party’s “Jan Raksha Yatra” in the state and the first to take forward the baton will be Yogi Adityanath.
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister will lead the “yatra” on Wednesday from Kechery to Kannur, the official Twitter account of the Kerala wing of the BJP stated.
In Marxist Kerala, the BJP intends to rely on religion to counter the Reds.
Before launching his yatra, Mr Shah played the Hindutva card by offering prayers at the Rajarajeshwara temple in the northern district of Kannur in the state. Mr Adityanath would take forward the fight against the so-called “jihadi red terror”.
In a scathing attack, the BJP chief, while launching his yatra, accused Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan of being “directly responsible for all political murders in Kerala”.
The CPI(M) was quick to react in Delhi. The party charged the BJP chief of “deliberately inciting violence” against its leaders and cadres in Kerala. Mr Vijayan used a Facebook post to hit back at the BJP.
“The Sangh Parivar shouldn’t think that they can make inroads into Kerala by false propaganda,” Mr Vijayan posted and later making a jibe at Mr Adityanath, the Kerala chief minister tweeted, “We invite UP CM Yogi to visit Kerala hospitals to learn how to run hospitals effectively.”
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted: “Amit Shah should attend to trouble his party is causing to citizens in BJP-ruled states. Don’t try and create trouble in Kerala.”
Mr Yechury said that data shows that ever since the election results in Kerala in May, the BJP/RSS have started this spree of violence against the CPI(M) cadres.
“Amit Shah is deliberately inciting violence against CPI(M) leaders and its workers. We are a recognised national party. We are here not because of Shah, but because of the people. We will not tolerate this,” CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat said.
She accused the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of manufacturing lies. “The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is not the victim. In fact, a large number of CPI(M) cadres have been killed by the RSS. It wants to intimidate those who stand up against its terror tactics and communal hatred.”
The BJP’s “Jana Raksha Yatra” is expected to travel through Kerala before culminating in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17.
As part of the “padayatra”, Mr Shah will on October 5 walk past the residence of chief minister Vijayan in Kannur, as a mark of protest against the ruling CPI(M)’s “political violence”.
The BJP is organising the padyatras in all states over the next two weeks, including a march to the CPI(M) headquarters in the national capital.
