People's Democracy

KERALA

Dual Murder Rocks Assembly,

Opposition Demands Legislator’s Arrest

N S Sajith

AS the Kerala chief minister, Oommen Chandi, has categorically refused the opposition LDF’s demand for Muslim League legislator P K Basheer’s arrest in connection with the dual murder of his brothers in Malappuram, the protest against the government’s inaction has got strengthened. (A first information report had named Basheer as the sixth accused.) For two consecutive days, the state assembly remained stalled over the cold-blooded murders in which prominent Muslim League leaders are involved. Due to the opposition’s protest, the speaker G Karthikeyan felt compelled to adjourn the house on both days. The opposition is demanding Basheer’s suspension from the house and immediate arrest.

Holding banners and placards, opposition members made it clear that they would not continue to be in a house where a murder case suspect sat. Protest slogans reverberated in the house when P K Basheer entered. When opposition leader V S Achuthanandan was refused an opportunity to speak on the issue, opposition members rushed into the well. Karthikeyan then ruled that there was no a precedence of allowing an opposition leader to speak before the question hour. When the members staged a sit-in, the speaker quickly completed some other proceedings and adjourned the house.

Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan said the government was conspiring to avoid investigation into the case in which a League MLA is involved. It was shameful to give shelter to such a person in the assembly. As the government ran with a slender majority, it had succumbed to the Muslim League’s pressure and threat, VS said.

Deputy leader of opposition, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, said a criminal who should have been arrested was being given police security in the MLAs hostel. He accused that the government had no power to book the League criminals.

The murder of two brothers, Abubacker and Asaad, took place on June 10 night, a week after P K Basheer made a threat in a public meeting in Kuniyil in Malappuram district. The suspicion is that the provocation made by Basheer had resulted in the dual murder.

The eife of Abubacker was a LDF candidate in local body elections and she had appeared before the court in an election related case against Basheer.

Chief minister Oommen said it was no policy of the government to arrest a person named in an FIR in any case. He did not reply to a query whether the police had summoned Basheer for interrogation.

In the midst of one and a half months long all-out attacks against the CPI(M) in Kerala, in the name of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T P Chandrasekharan and then following the controversial speech by the CPI(M)’s M M Mani, the UDF and its corporate media partners got a severe shock when the news came of dual murder of two brothers from Areekode, a hamlet in Malappuram district. Rightwing newspapers and news channels were found burning their midnight oil to somehow push the news under the carpet. The dual murder was planned and prompted by P K Basheer, Muslim League legislator from Eranad.

The tragic incident of dual murder happened on June 10 night when criminals came in a Tata Sumo and a Maruti Alto cars, and killed Kolakkoden Aasad and his brother Aboobacker alias Kunjappu. For the last two days, the channels and newspapers did not give much coverage to the news. They are still beating around the bush in the T P Chandrasekharan murder case in which the special investigation team has failed to make a breakthrough. The routine of panel discussions among UDF leaders and former CPI(M) activists are now not to be in the prime time slots of news channels. However, every attempt of the rightwing media to black out the dual murder news was ended in a fiasco when another section of media telecast a tape of P K Basheer.

According to this audio tape, P K Basheer had threatened these two brothers just one week before the incident. He made this speech on June 3, in a public meeting organised by the Muslim League quite near the place of incident. On Sunday, June 10, the criminals reached the street adjacent to the slain brothers’ ancestral home and brutally killed them, leaving their bodies in pools of blood. Based on the statements of eye witnesses and relatives, the police registered cases against Muslim League leaders including Basheer.

This cold blooded dual murder was to avenge the murder of a League worker, Athique Rahman, after a petty clash at the venue of a local sevens football tournament in January. Kolakkodan brothers are in the list of suspects for this dual murder. The threat was made in a meeting organised to distribute relief fund to the family of the slain League worker, Athique Rahman. The criminals escaped to the Nilambur forests on Western Ghats and no arrest was made by the time we go to press. Legal experts have stated that the case registered against Basheer was serious in nature as far as the crime was concerned.

One recalls how UDF constituents launched an all-out campaign against the CPI(M) after the murder of T P Chandrasekharan. The media also joined in every attempt to malign the CPI(M), though thy latter has itself lost thousands of its workers since from its inception --- all because of the politics of assassination the anti-communist groupings have been indulging in or because of police repression. Though the police as well as goons of the Congress, RSS and Muslim League have killed thousands of CPI(M) workers in the state, to the CPI(M)’s opponents and the media the murder of Chandrasekharan was the first (!) political murder in the state.

The dual murder perpetrated at the behest of P K Basheer provides yet another opportunity to analyse the real colour of the Muslim League and the opportunism of rightwing media.