BJP worker hacked to death in Kerala: Where's the outrage, liberals?
The hypocrisy must be exposed. While liberals are crying hoarse over the arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar facing charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy, far down in the South, a young BJP worker was hacked to death, allegedly by Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers in Kannur district of Kerala on February 15.
Sadly, this political killing in Kerala, which goes to polls later in 2016, has gone virtually unnoticed on social media, much like those of BJP and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leaders in Bihar recently.
The Kerala unit of the BJP tweeted that 27-year-old party worker Sujith was hacked to death "by CPM" at his home in Kannur and his parents are critically injured.
BJP karyakarta Sujith 27 hacked to death by #CPM at his home in Kannur Dist. Parents critically injured. #CPMTerror pic.twitter.com/XQRYaMQUqG
— BJP KERALAM (@BJP4Keralam) February 16, 2016
The party unit further tweeted asking for social conscience to wake up against the "political killings of the #CPM" and demanding an end to "Leftists' terror".
It is high time social conscience woke up against Political Killings of #CPM. #LeftistTerror should STOP. pic.twitter.com/UEVhuqCWAy
— BJP KERALAM (@BJP4Keralam) February 16, 2016
Like Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, Sujith faced death at the hands of an unruly mob. Akhlaq's lynching on September 29 by local villagers on the suspicion of storing and consuming beef made national and international headlines, which deemed it as the "rise of intolerance" in India. There was even an "award wapsi", which saw leading writers, scholars, Bollywood personalities and scientists protesting by returning their national honours. Why isn't there similar outrage over Sujith's death?
Will the so-called "liberal-secular" section of the society not return their awards for this poor man? Will Sujith's family receive a similar compensation from the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the state?
I fear that nothing of this sort is likely to happen. Kannur doesn't excite Delhi, it is also way off the national spotlight unlike Dadri, which is located on the outskirts of the capital. Also, the perpetrators of the crime are the Leftists and not the Right. The victim is a Hindu BJP worker and not a Muslim or a Dalit, as in the case of Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula who committed suicide. The media is also quite busy these days covering the events arising out of the anti-national sloganeering at the JNU campus and the Press Club of India.
In the aftermath of Dadri, Hyderabad and JNU, we saw Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and other prominent national leaders rush to the site of protest. Rahul had even visited the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune to express solidarity with the students protesting the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman. Will any of them find time to visit the bereaved family of Sujith to protest the political killings?
It is highly unlikely. Given that it would not fetch them any votes. So much for the highly polarised and divisive politics of the country. Where's the intolerance now?