Sarath Chandran, a young Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party worker was stabbed to death by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) workers in Kerala. The unfortunate incident happened at Haripad in the Alappuzha district and the killers are also alleged to be local drug dealers.

On Wednesday, a few words were exchanged between Sarath and one of the killers during the Puthenkariyil Devi temple festival. Sarath and other youth in the area practice the Thalam dance inside the temple premises. Media reports confirmed that Sarath opposed the sale of drugs near the temple.

Unlike his comrade, Stalin in Tamil Nadu, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his party are not demolishing temples but are infiltrating them with communists. Knowing very well the protection that temples receive, local drug mafias are also using temple premises to sell their illegal drugs and there are complaints from genuine devotees.  

More comrades arrived to question Sharath and then dispersed after threatening retaliation. The stabbing occurred around 11.30 PM when Sarath was returning home from the temple with his friends. A group of 15 who were waiting with weapons attacked them at Kumarapuram. 

Sarath was stabbed in the abdomen while his friend Manoj sustained a hand injury. Their friends rushed them to the taluk hospital in Haripad and later to the medical college hospital in Alappuzha, on motorcycles. Unfortunately, Sarath succumbed to his injuries while Manoj is still undergoing treatment.

Haripad Circle Inspector of Police Biju V Nair took the suspects into custody and confirmed their drug mafia links. Tom P. Thomas of Kumarapuram Pothapally House, Vishnu from Kadoor House, Kishore Kumar (34) of Nisha Bhavan, Sivakumar from Kizhakathil House, Sumesh from Kochuputhan Parambil House and Sooraj from Pulimoottil House have been arrested. The leader of this drug gang, Nandu Prakash (23) has been identified as the main suspect but he is absconding. At least 4 of those arrested have several criminal cases registered against them.

BJP state president K Surendran told reporters that Sarath was an active Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker. He alleged that anti-social elements headed by members of the drug mafia and ‘quotation’ gangs were running riot all over the state of Kerala. (Quotation gangs indulge in violence and crimes for money.) He added that all the arrested for this murder were CPM workers and they had the protection of the ruling regime. 

CPI(M) Alappuzha district secretary R Nazar said that his party has nothing to do with the murder and added that it was ‘just a clash between two groups’ that led to the murder. Seeing the usual Popular Front of India (PFI) and radical Islamist suspects missing from the picture, the media rushed in to report the incident. The same media later changed the narrative when they found that the drug mafia led by CPM workers were behind the murder and that the agenda did not suit them. 

Ultra leftist media reported that though the victim was involved in BJP activities in the past, they doubted whether Sarath was still associated with the party. They added that all the accused were anti-social elements who have several criminal cases, but they were not part of any drug mafia! Later on, the CPM mouthpiece quoted District police chief Jayadev IPS to claim that those arrested were just running drugs and that this was not a political murder. This is standard operating procedure for police in all ‘secular’ states – Hazaribagh SP has also claimed that Rupesh Pandey was killed due to ‘personal enmity’ whereas the reality is that 127 people have been booked for the mob lynching of the minor boy when the Saraswati Puja procession he was part of was attacked.

Haripad police confirmed that those arrested for the murder are all members of a criminal gang. They have been charged with rioting using deadly weapons and with murder. Political or not, the parents of the young man lost their son. The only difference between political or nonpolitical murder is that the criminals will not receive political patronage, openly or directly, for now.

Sarath’s house has a plastic sheet for a roof, wooden boards, and a room with a kitchen. This is where Sarath lived with his father, mother, and younger brother. Sarath graduated with a diploma in civil engineering and was the family’s hope for the future. All three survivors cried inconsolably.

The nationalist in him made Sarath join the RSS shakha in the area. He had recently become the Mukhya Shikshak and was an active member of Seva Bharati too. Recently, they had organized a free medical check-up camp in the area and set up a volleyball court for the local children.

There has been a rash of murders involving BJP/ RSS workers in Kerala, ever since Pinarayi Vijayan and his party came back to power. In November, RSS worker S Sanjith was hacked to death in broad daylight in front of his wife and the police are yet to arrest all the accused. In December, BJP OBC Morcha leader Advocate Renjith Sreenivasan was hacked to death, again in front of his whole family. Both those murders were committed by the CPM’s B team from the PFI.

Haripad is part of the Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency and is represented by AM Ariff, the only CPM representative in the Lok Sabha from Kerala. The former home minister of Kerala, Ramesh Chennithala from the Indian National Congress is the elected representative to the Kerala assembly from Haripad.