Amit Shah flags off Janaraksha rally in Kerala, urges end to communism in India

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president Amit Shah on Tuesday flagged off the Janaraksha Yatra in Kerala where he lashed out at the ruling CPM and blamed it for supporting political violence in the state. 

"End of CPM will herald the end of political violence," Shah said.

"As many as 120 BJP and RSS workers had been murdered in Kerala since 2001," an aggressive Shah said asking the CPI-M-led LDF government to let the people know who was responsible for the killings. 

"I am asking Chief Minister Vijayan, who has killed BJP and RSS workers in Kerala. If he does not have answers, then I am saying that Chief Minister Vijayan is himself responsible for the killings," he said.

He further asserted that communism was shrinking in India and across the world. "Wherever CPM ruled, be it Kerala, West Bengal or Tripura, political violence followed," he said.

He also called out to BJP workers to end the violence in the state.

The 'Janraksha Yatra' with the theme "All have to live! Against Jihadi-Red Terror" began from the Gandhi statue here this afternoon where Shah hit out at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the "political killings".

Joining the rally, hundreds of BJP workers, mostly from Kannur and Kasargod districts, raised slogans against political violence under the CPI(M)-led LDF government.

Shah, on a three-day visit to the state, led the march after paying floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. The march will pass through several parts of Kerala before concluding in state capital Thiruvananthapuram on October 17.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will join the march on Wednesday from Keecheri to Kannur, Vijayan's hometown and the hub of the political violence.

Several Union ministers will join the march in different stages, party leaders said.