A Peace meet for the sake of it

It is no surprise that the all-party meeting convened on Wednesday to restore peace in Kannur following the murder of Youth Congress leader Shuhaib, ended in a pandemonium even before it started.

The reason is that nobody believes that had the peace meeting gone on smoothly, peace would have been restored in Kannur. Kill, kill and kill again; and then call a peace meeting using the money from the exchequer - this has been the norm in Kannur. Each peace meeting is merely a break for honing the murder weapons. They are only fake dramas carried out to throw dust into the eyes of the people. Therefore none should feel sad that the meeting failed to take place.

Violence in Kannur has been a subject of this editorial column many a time. Popular sentiments against such deplorable politics that lead to bloodshed are gaining momentum across Kerala. But CPM and the BJP, the chief practitioners of this kind of politics, have never been ready to step back even a bit. Although Congress as well have a role in the politics of violence taking place in Kannur, the party has been staying out of this practice for a long time. That is the reason why the party receives public support for the protest against the murder of the Youth Congress worker without any particular provocation.

CPM leader and Rajya Sabha member KK Ragesh trigged a commotion by seating himself on the dais. People’s representatives from the district had not been invited for the meeting attended only by the party leaders. However, the presence of a CPM MP and his position at the dais naturally led to the protest. The CPM had the primary responsibility to ensure peace in the state when the party is in power. The message sent out by the happenings in Kannur is that not only are they murdering people but the party members are unable to even properly convene a peace meeting. The incidents in Kannur are only the latest instance of Pinarayi Vijayan government’s constant failure in protecting law and order.

It is an indisputable fact that liquidating opponents is part of CPM’s daily political program. They have always shown an unusual knack in this matter. Shuhaib’s murder is also a continuation of that. But they should have ruminated about the impact created by such iniquities that take place while they are in power. The fact is that those who find pleasure in bloodshed will not have the time to think about all these aspects.

The leadership initially stated that action would be taken against any party worker if he is involved in Shuhaib’s murder. The CPM District Secretary has also admitted that Akash who surrendered by confessing his role in the murder, is a CPM worker. But no action has been taken so far. It is pointless to expect anything of that kind either. When T P Chandrasekharan was murdered, this was what the party had said even then. However, CPM had selected P K Kunjananthan, the accused in the case even while he was imprisoned, to the area committee. While Karayi Rajan, one of the accused in the murder of Fasal in Thalassery was elected as District Panchayat President, Karayi Chandrasekharan was made the Municipal chairperson by the party. That is, even while the party condemns the murders, it has a tradition of protecting and honouring those responsible for the killings. Recently, even when Shuhaib was murdered, it took the Chief Minister a week’s time to release a statement condemning it.

It would be absurd to presume that the murder of Shuhaib will be the last. For the mind-set of CPM leadership in Kannur has evolved such that it just cannot help killing. Perhaps this time the party and the government will succeed in stopping the present strikes by reaching a back-door accord with the Congress leadership. When there are moves against district secretary P Jayarajan even within the party, the government is unlikely to face any hurdles in declaring a CBI enquiry. And for the Congress, it may not have any difficulty in ending the strike with the justification of a CBI enquiry declaration. But even then a fact remains that it is not the lives of men, but petty political interests that lead all of them. And if such people hold peace meetings even on a daily basis, that is not going to benefit the society.