Kasaragod: In Kerala’s bruising campaign season, moments of contrition are rare, rarer still from the CPM. The CITU worker who led the assault on a UDF campaign team at Cheruvathur bus stand in the Trikaripur constituency called on candidate Sandeep Varier at his home on Saturday, April 4, and apologised. Krishnan, a CPM worker and bus stand collection agent, admitted fault without qualification. He described the attack as an act of impulse and said he carried a sense of remorse.

On the morning of April 1, when a five-member campaign team canvassing for Varier -- with boards strapped to their bodies -- reached the bus stand, they were stopped and assaulted allegedly by a group led by Krishnan. Varier rushed to the spot, where he was allegedly blocked as well, triggering a heated exchange before bystanders intervened.

On Saturday, Varier said the assault had “pained all of us”. But what followed, he suggested, mattered more. “Today, I witnessed the political enmity quietly leaving my home,” he said. “Krishnan came with tears in his eyes and said it was a grave mistake… This is what happens when humanity rises above politics.”

He invoked Rahul Gandhi’s idea of the politics of love. “This is the politics of love that Rahul Gandhi spoke of, opening a shop of love in a market of hatred,” Varier said. It cannot be missed that Krishnan’s change of heart came after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan publicly condemned not the incident in Kasaragod, but a similar one in Palakkad, where BJP workers led by councillor Sindhu Rajan blocked Congress candidate Ramesh Pisharody in the evening of the same day, April 1.

Campaigning in Kozhikode on April 2, the Chief Minister described the Palakkad incident as an act of intolerance and a threat to democratic values, showcasing it as an example of the BJP’s political culture.

Pisharody was blocked at Vadakkanthara after being invited by a woman to visit a nearby temple. Even as others urged him to visit the temple, he chose to walk away rather than escalate the confrontation. He also ensured that the UDF called off its protest against the incident the next day, which was Maundy Thursday.

The Chief Minister later described the incident as “a kind of helplessness on the part of the Congress”. Though the Cheruvathur assault occurred the same day, it found no mention in his condemnation.

Yet, in Trikaripur, Krishnan’s apology stands out. In 2021, UDF candidate M P Joseph’s booth agents were rounded up and assaulted; when he went to their rescue, a mob of CPM workers shattered his brand-new car’s windshield with a laterite block, even as police response remained muted. There was neither apology nor condemnation.