Hundreds of CPI-M activists led by its General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday marched up to the BJP headquarters here in protest against the killings of CPI-M cadres in Kerala allegedly by RSS and BJP members.CPI-M leaders said they were being attacked by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for upholding secular values, which they said was "anathema" to the hate politics of the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).The marchers set out from Delhi's CPI-M office at Vithalbhai Patel House in the heart of Delhi and moved towards the BJP office about a kilometre away, shouting slogans like "RSS terror down, down" and "Khooni rajniti band karo" (Stop politics of violence). The march was stopped by police near the BJP office where CPI-M leaders addressed the gathering."Ever since the Modi government took power, the RSS-BJP have gone on a rampage, particularly in Kerala, killing CPI-M cadres and sympathisers. Their politics of hatred has also seen killings in the name of 'gauraksha', 'love jehad' and pseudo-nationalism," Yechury said.He said as many as 85 CPI-M cadres had been killed in the last three years in Kerala. Referring to BJP President Amit Shah's visit to Kerala, Yechury accused him of trying to divert the attention of the people "because his son is implicated in a money laundering case".
Other CPI-M leaders who took part in the march included Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat and S.R. Pillai.Prakash Karat said the "Jan Raksha Yatra" of the BJP in Kerala was actually the "RSS Raksha Yatra". "We have not used the police and administration to stop their yatra because we believe in democracy. But after their yatra is over, we will come to the streets and the world will see that the people of Kerala are with us," Karat said.Brinda Karat called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah as "encounter specialists"."It is we, the CPI-M, who have stood for communal harmony which is an anathema to their ideology and that is why they are killing us," she said.