Kerala is seeing political violence of the kind that would, if properly documented, bring shame to any sane human being.
Chadayankalayil Radhakrishnan, the BJP leader died on 6th January 2017 in pain and the killing has stunned Kerala.
The BJP worker’s house in Kanjikkode in Palakkad, Kerala, was targeted for arson by CPI (M) and the attack took place in the early morning on December 27, 2016.
But this is not all, we have documented the sheer break down of law machinery in Kerala when it comes to violence against opponents.
Congress, RSS, BJP and Communists have gotten killed by political gang wars which were earlier the hallmark of West Bengal politics.
The graphic post-attack footage of Kerala BJP leader Chadayankalayil Radhakrishnan’s family:
Dhanya Rajendran is a journalist and editor-in-Chief of The News Minute and has been documenting the mayhem and bloodshed that has plagued Kerala. She blamed the media for failing to do its job when it comes to CPI (M) violence.
In two tweets she exposed how a ‘sympathetic’ media (should we say indulgent?) is the reason why the communist violence does not get the bad press that is otherwise reserved for such acts of violence.
Why is press under-reporting these acts? After seeing these acts of violence, one will get an answer easily:
Attack is in retaliation to Vinod participating in a march to CPM's party village of Cheemeni. , N #Kerala on January 2.
— Jayakrishnan (@savarkar5200) January 7, 2017
The political violence is one thing, but when it starts affecting the families, then it is difficult to state things openly as happened in the above case. Fear of violence against not only the journalists but also their families is a stark reality in Kerala, so journalists stay away from reporting such cases.
BJPactivist Radhakrishnan whose house was torched by CPMgoons dies in Palakkad.His brother Kannan w/ burns on treatment. #Kerala #RedTerror
— BJP KERALAM (@BJP4Keralam) January 6, 2017
Such attacks which take place in Kerala cannot even be found in states like Uttar Pradesh or Bihar which the Malayalam media routinely targets for ‘lawlessness.’ The way the Mamata Banerjee administration or an Akhilesh Yadav government are always on the radar of media, the CPI (M) never is and never will be because it knows how to silence the dissenting voices.
The press works under difficult times in Kerala while the national media has rarely taken a strong stand on such diabolical acts even when it affects its own freedom. Who is the loser here? The political parties who lose their promising young men and women leaders to violence? The families who lose their dear ones or the society who loses their persons? All of them lose, but the biggest losers are the journalists because reporting and under-reporting both mean that they will have to bear the consequences. Reporting means braving threats and underreporting means they will have to swallow the pride and live with the charge of doing ‘cowardly’ journalism.
Only a strong national media can fight this challenge but so far it has stayed aloof. Will it wake up in the future? We can only hope so.
Meanwhile, another footage has surfaced from God’s Own Country:
FLASH > CPM/SFI goons have surrounded Sree Sankara Sanskrit University in #Kerala and are trying to break in to attack #ABVP students. pic.twitter.com/8Q0VAx6iEd
— Jayakrishnan (@savarkar5200) January 7, 2017
