BJP Janaraksha Yatra in Kerala: Yogi Adityanath says CPM govt has sponsored 'jihadi' violence in state

Keecheri: The BJP on Wednesday deployed Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Kerala to rally public support for its campaign against the ruling CPM over the political killings of saffron workers, with the leader alleging that it is the Left’s nature to grab power at gunpoint. Joining the ‘Jan Raksha’ (protect the people) march, launched by BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday to highlight CPM’s alleged violence against BJP and RSS workers, Adityanath claimed that the God’s own country, a reference to Kerala, has been witnessing political violence sponsored by the ruling party. [caption id=“attachment_4022007” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image Yogi Adityanath. PTI[/caption] “It is in the nature of the Left party to grab power at gunpoint,” he told PTI. He also hit back after the CPM asked him to draw a lesson on running government hospitals from Kerala, claiming that Uttar Pradesh effectively dealt with the threat of dengue and chikungunya while over 300 people have died of dengue in Kerala. The death of a large number of children in government hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, especially in Gorakhpur, recently had prompted opposition parties to raise questions on the quality of health services in the northern state. “While Uttar Pradesh effectively checked the menace of dengue and chikungunya, the Left party and its government have failed in providing basic necessities to people in the state,” he claimed. Adityanath said that people in large numbers have supported the BJP’s 15-day ‘yatra’. “There is no scope for violence in a democracy, but, unfortunately, Kerala has been witnessing politically-sponsored violence. With this ‘yatra’, we will make people aware about the CPM’s misrule,” he said. Adityanath was joined by Kerala BJP chief Kummanam Rajashekharan in the seven-kilometre march. Shah, who is on a three-day visit to the state, will take part in a rally in Kannur, the home district of Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Thursday. As many as 120 BJP-RSS workers, 84 in Kannur alone, have been killed in the state since 2001, with 14 of them in the chief minister’s home district since he took over the reins last year, the BJP has alleged.