Political violence has to be denounced, regardless of country and who are involved. The CPI (M) has a blood -stained record when it was in power in West Bengal. It has taken to violence now in Kerala where it is the ruling party but of course it takes two to tango. The BJP in Kerala is not preaching the cult of non-violence. Kannur was the hotbed of CPI (M)-RSS/ BJP violence. BJP President, Amit Shah has started a 14 day Jan Raksha Yatra and pilloried Kerala chief minister Pinaray Vijayan, a Kannur native taking a holier than thou attitude. Statistics tell a different story. In the orgy of violence in Kannur, the numbers of dead on both sides are evenly matched. True, being the party in power, the CPI (M) has a greater responsibility for keeping the peace and enforcing law and order. Political opponents have to be fought at the hustings, not in gun fights. And that goes for the Opposition as well.
Amit Shah has shown a singular partisanship in drawing a parallel between Kerala and Karnataka. In Kerala, what is happening is deplorable but it is between political cadres. The cases Shah has cited are of a different nature. M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh did not die in a battle of cadres. There were writers and journalists who died for their ideology and their weapon was not the gun but the pen. The killers of Kalburgi and Lankesh have not been arrested as yet hence it would be premature to make allegations but the goons who killed them were downright murderers. However, Shah and the national BJP leadership heading for Kerala to declare a moratorium on political violence are on the right track. But between practice and profession of faith falls a shadow. The ruling party in any state in India balks at meting out condign punishment to those who engage in murder and mayhem. The power struggle in India relies on a policy of smash and grab. The rule of law takes a backseat.