Kerala's coastal Alappuzha district was rocked by back-to-back killings of two party leaders, the first belonging to the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the second to the Bharatiya Janata Party, leading to clamping of prohibitory orders by police on Sunday.
Following the killing of an SDPI state secretary late Saturday night, a BJP leader was hacked to death less than 12 hours later on Sunday morning and later, prohibitory order under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 144 was imposed in the entire Alappuzha district, additional police force was deployed there and senior officers camped there to monitor the law and order situation.
While the political parties and their leaders condemned the killings, they blamed either each other or the state government for what happened.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, reacting to the murders, said he was 'ashamed' and 'very sad' by what had happened and appealed to all parties concerned to 'have faith in the system, in democracy and civilised behaviour'.
"This is not the way," he added.
By afternoon, IG Harshita Attaluri told reporters that police has taken into custody around 50 people, including anti-social elements, public as well as workers of BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and SDPI,
The officer said that not all of the persons in custody are criminals and that the police was 'examining and investigating' the two cases.
She said there has been no lapse or intelligence on the part of the police which had swung into action right after the assault on the SDPI leader and added that 'we cannot give protection to every house'.
The police will take action against those behind the crimes irrespective of whether they are political bigwigs, anti-social elements or members of the public, she said.
Thereafter, the district administration announced that an all party meeting would be held at the Collectorate on Monday afternoon to ensure peace in the area.
Later in the evening, SDPI state secretary K S Shan was buried after his body was kept for public viewing for which a huge crowd had gathered.
BJP's OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjith Sreenivas, who was hacked to death in his home in the morning, will be cremated on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as well as leaders of other political parties in the state had condemned the killings.
The CM said steps will be taken by the police to nab the culprits and those behind them.
Subsequently, State Police Chief (SPC) Anil Kant, told the media that senior police officers were camping in the district and additional forces have been deployed there.
He said that Additional Director General of Police-Law and Order would be heading the probe into the two killings and that the police would soon be rounding up troublemakers, 'goondas' and their leaders in the area to prevent another such incident from happening in the near future.
Kant also said that a state-wide alert has been announced and all district police chiefs have been directed to closely monitor the law and order situation there and if required, prohibitory orders would be imposed and additional forces would be deployed.
The back to back killings also led to a lot of blame game amongst the parties with the SDPI blaming RSS for the killing of Shan, and the BJP accusing the former for the murder of Sreenivas.
The Congress, in turn, blamed both BJP and SDPI for the situation and said they were out to divide the state on communal lines.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan and the party's Kerala president K Surendran blamed the SDPI and lapses on the part of the state government and police for the death of its OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjeet Sreenivas.
Muraleedharan denied the charge that RSS or BJP was behind Shan's death and alleged that the Left government in Kerala was giving a free hand to extremist groups and this was making things worse in the state.
Surendran, towing a similar line, alleged that the CM was supporting the Popular Front of India (PFI), whose political outfit is the SDPI, as in many municipal corporations in the state the Communist Party of India-Marxist and SDPI were actively supporting each other.
He, however, did not specify which were these corporations and the CPI-M has not reacted to his statement.
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah should assess the situation and dismiss the Kerala government.
He also called for a ban of PFI and said its members should go to Pakistan as they were seeking secession from India.
Congress and the United Democratic Front opposition led by it, on the other hand, alleged that both BJP and SDPI were out to create communal disharmony in the state in order to make a political space for themselves here and therefore the state government and the people of Kerala should stay away from such groups.
Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly V D Satheesan said that the agenda of these groups was to divide the state along communal lines and that the Left government should take stringent action against them.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president and Congress MP K Sudhakaran, in a statement, also blamed the Left government's alleged support of SDPI and RSS for such 'political killings'.
SDPI's Kerala president issued a statement refuting the allegation that it was behind the killing of the BJP leader.
The outfit said it was not going to take another person's life in retaliation for Shan's death and that it has faith in the rule of law in the country.
Subsequently, M K Faizy, National President of SDPI, in a Facebook post, condemned Shan's murder and alleged that it was meticulously planned by the RSS which was trying to contaminate the harmonious communal ambience in the state.
Shan was brutally attacked on Saturday night while he was on his way back home.
He was on his way home when a car rammed into his bike and as he fell down, the assailants inflicted around 40 injuries on him leading to his death, police said.
Shan succumbed to his injuries at a Kochi hospital around midnight, police said.
Hours later, BJP's OBC Morcha state secretary Sreenivas was hacked to death by some assailants who barged into his house on Sunday morning.
Police said it suspects the fatal attack on Sreenivas, also a member of the BJP state committee, to be in retaliation to the killing of Shan.
