Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders who visited tension-hit areas of Periye and Kallyot in Kasaragod to see houses and properties of party workers vandalised in the aftermath of the murder of two Youth Congress workers faced a barrage of outrage by local residents on Saturday morning.
The delegation of CPI(M) leaders, including P. Karunakaran, MP, K. Kunhiraman, MLA, M.V. Balakrishnan, K.P. Satheeshchandran, K.V. Kunhiraman, and C.H. Kunhambu, was taken aback by the outburst of protest and anger on Saturday morning when the leaders reached the area.
Large gathering
Reports said that men and women assembled in large numbers following reports of the CPI(M) leaders’ visit to the shops and houses of party workers damaged in attacks by Congress workers after the funeral of the bodies of the two Youth Congress workers at Kallyot on February 18. The residents, assembled at a spot hardly half a km from the houses of the slain Youth Congress workers, gave vent to their sorrow and rage at the CPI(M) leaders. TV channels showed a young woman resolutely telling a police officer that those assembled would not allow the CPI(M) leaders to proceed. “The party should be built not by murder,” one of them said. “We have children and should not they stay alive? Is it your plan to kill our remaining children,” asked another. Some women were seen shouting at the visiting leaders.
The police escorted the CPI(M) leaders to the vandalised houses and shops of party workers.
