Kozhikode: The Left Democratic Front is trying to ward off the tag of perpetrators of violence, which its political detractors are trying to hurl on it.
A gathering being organised by the CPM to honour the family members of party activists and workers murdered by the UDF and BJP-RSS is an attempt in this direction.
CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan would honour the family members with a red shawl at the event.
The LDF has already arranged a huge venue in Vadakara with the photographs of slain party workers, starting from Abu and Chathukkutty killed in Thalassery police firing in 1940, up to Shibin who was a victim of a political murder in Thuneri in 2015.
By honouring nearly 300 family members of slain party workers, the CPM is attempting to thwart the attempts of political rivals including the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) to portray LDF candidate P Jayarajan as a votary of murder politics.
The UDF is widely distributing leaflets, describing the CPM as well as Jayarajan as votaries of political violence.
This has reportedly struck a chord, especially in family gatherings.
By fielding K Muraleedharan in a late dramatic move with the active support of IUML, the UDF has got an edge in the campaign.
Without mentioning the name of the opposition candidate, Muraleedharan has been reiterating at campaign gatherings that voters should choose him and “not the murderers”.
Any result other than a victory of Jayarajan would be a blow to the CPM across the state.
So, the party is making an all out effort to insulate itself from such charges.
Jayarajan himself had told Onmanorama that the UDF was calling him a 'murderer', despite allying with the RSS-BJP who tried to kill him.
The insinuation is that the Congress is in a secret pact with the RSS-BJP to defeat Jayarajan in Vadakara.
“At the venue of the gathering, the photographs of all the martyrs would be displayed and each name, their age, year in which they were killed and the accused in the murder, would be called out in the venue. This would be a reminder for the party members as well as the others, who try to portray us (the CPM) as the killers,” said CPM district committee member P K Divakaran.
The CPM had honoured nearly 200 martyrs during its party state conference in Thrissur in February, 2018.
This is the first time the party is organising such an event during an election campaign.
