 "Kerala political killings: Arun Jaitley visits slain RSS worker's family in Thiruvananthapuram, CPM stages protest")
Members of Communist Party of India (Marxist) staged protest outside Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday as Union minister Arun Jaitley arrived in Kerala to visit the house of slain RSS functionary Rajesh, reported ANI.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday morning and paid a condolence visit to Rajesh’s family. “I visited the kin of our deceased karyakarta Rajesh who was slaughtered in the most barbaric manner,” Jaitley told reporters after meeting the family, reported ANI.
He is also expected to visit the houses of BJP ward councillors, which were attacked allegedly by CPM activists in various parts of Thiruvanathapuram last week.
Jaitley’s visit to the state comes on the backdrop of increasing clashes between BJP-RSS workers and CPM members. A series of violent incident between RSS activists and CPM members rocked Thiruvanathauram last week, which culminated in the killing of Rajesh, a 34-year-old swayansevak. AK Ramya, whose husband, Sreejan Babu is battling for his life after he was attacked by RSS workers, has written an open letter to Jaitley, asking if he would also visit them, The News Minute reported.
On 30 July, a day after Rajesh’s murder, the police took into custody five suspected CPM activists and impounded the two vehicles reportedly used by them. The BJP alleged that the CPM was behind the murder, a charge denied by the ruling party. BJP MPs had visited the Union home minister Rajnath Singh seeking the Centre’s intervention. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi had also raised the issue of attack against BJP workers in Parliament recently. Rajnath Singh then spoken to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and voiced concern over attacks on political workers in Kerala and said political violence was unacceptable in a democracy. On 31 July, Vijayan met top BJP-RSS leaders and called for all-party meeting in Thiruvananthapuram to promote peace and shun violence.