Bharatiya Janata Party MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Wednesday said the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala government had failed to contain the political violence in the state. She said Kerala which is known as “God’s Own Country”, had now become “God’s Forsaken Country”.

Lekhi was speaking during the Zero Hour in Lok Sabha. “The people who give lectures on intolerance and democracy cannot tolerate alternate ideologies in democracy,” she said.

Lekhi read out the names of 14 Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers who were killed in Kerala in the last few months. She said workers from various political parties, including the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League, were being targeted in the state.

“When BJP workers were killed we raise our voice, others do not even raise their voices. Politics does not give licence to kill,” she added.

Another BJP MP Prahalad Joshi claimed that 17 people had been killed in Kerala in the 17 months of Left government. He demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation or the National Investigation agency probe into these deaths.

Violent political conflict

A spate of violent attacks have been reported recently between the Bharatiya Janata Party-RSS alliance and the ruling CPI(M). There have been several political murders in Kerala since the Left Democratic Front government came to power in May 2016. Both the RSS and the CPI(M) have blamed each other for the bloodshed.

On July 29, a RSS worker in Kerala died after his attackers chopped his palm off. CPI(M) workers were suspected to have been involved in the attack.