CPM headquarters attack echoes in Parliament

The reverberation of the attack on CPM headquarters in Delhi rocked both the houses of Parliament on Monday with the CPM and the BJP accusing each other for the clashes and attacking their party workers.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil while replying in Rajya Sabha over the Sunday’s violence said stern action would be taken against those involved in the crime of attacking CPM headquarters.

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Shivraj Patil assured the House that criminal proceedings would be followed against the assailant and rejected the BJP’s demand for action against Left-ruled Kerala, which has been passing through political violence.

However Patil clarified that legal action would be initiated not on the basis of attack on the CPM office, but instead on the basis of FIR. If any, FIR is lodged action would be taken accordingly.

Although Patil denied any action against Left-ruled Kerala, but said the Centre would talk to the state government on the political violence incurring there, which has taken the toll of seven workers of RSS and CPM (5 from RSS and 2 from CPM).

The Centre would direct the state government to check the violence and said in between Centre-State talk, it was not possible for it to initiate an inquiry into the incidents, Shivraj Patil replied to a question when asked by the BJP in the House. However, he said that the Kerala government has informed us “all necessary steps have been taken to maintain law and order.”

While providing details over the Sunday’s incident, he said 200 persons had congregated at the Hindu Mahasabha Bhawan without taking permission and of which about 40 persons reached at the CPM head quarters in cars from different directions and soon the mob increased to 150. The police had to send additional force to bring the situation under control.

The Left members alleged that the attack was engineered by the RSS and the BJP. The allegations were strongly countered by the BJP members, which said the root cause of the incident was violence against their cadres in Kerala, against which a peaceful protest was being held.

Both the party BJP and CPM stated different story in order to blame other. BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said it were communist activists that initiated the violence when BJP workers went to the CPM headquarters for a peaceful protest against the recent killing of its cadres in Kerala.

While CPM leader Sitaram Yechury alleged that the attack on the CPM office was not a mere attack on a party, but an assault on the democracy and appealed to the House to condemn the incident. The Congress and UPA allies joined him in his tirade against the BJP.

The House was adjourned for half-an-hour after Question Hour following noisy scenes and heated arguments between BJP and CPM members over Sunday violence.

While the CPM blamed the BJP for attacking its party headquarters here, the BJP alleged the violence in Kerala was commenced by Communist activists when the BJP’s workers went there to stage a peaceful protest against killings of its cadres in Kerala. The Saffron Party accused the Left party of resorting to violence wherever it has an upper hand, be it Nandigram or Kannur.

Gathering at Jantar Mantar

Earlier in the morning nearly 500 CPM activists assembled at Jantar Mantar carrying placards demanding the arrest of Jagdish Mukhi, leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly and mayor Arti Mehra.

While addressing the crowd, CPM central committee member Grewal put forth their demands in such words: “The police arrest all culprits involved in the whole episode, irrespective of the party they belong to or the designation they hold. We want security to be beefed up in the offices of all political parties.”

The Saffron Party demand

The BJP, later in the day, demanded that an all-party parliamentary delegation be sent to Kerala to hold an immediate assessment of the violent clashes between the CPM and RSS-BJP cadre in the state’s Kannur district. The Party said that if CPM considers they were not culprit in the state’s violence, they should not have any objection in such inquiry.