DNA Edit: Political machismo

The conspiratorial silence over the death of an RSS cadre in Kerala from civil rights activists betrays a lack of impartiality in the public discourse against politicisation of violence. Kerala, like West Bengal, is a theatre of political machismo, where spilling blood for ideology is deemed legitimate.

With the steady communalisation of politics in both states in recent times, polarisation has assumed a new form. The clashes between RSS and CPI-M followers are indicative of the new fault lines emerging in Indian politics. With the Sangh Parivar attempting to increase its footprint on the state’s political landscape, the well-entrenched Left has responded to the perceived threat in a language it knows best: Murder. When violence, instead of constitutional means, becomes a weapon of change in a democracy, it reflects the inability of an ideology to surmount challenges by adapting itself to the changing times.

Violence, after all, is a crude weapon, whose appeal and reach are limited. If RSS is gaining ground at the grass roots, it shows that the saffron outfit has a better connect with people willing to subscribe and endorse a certain philosophy because they aspire to see a change in the status quo.

That idea and appeal can’t be suppressed with bloodshed. It is heartening to see Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan trying to defuse tension between the two parties through dialogue. Ordinary people can’t be held hostage by political parties which resort to hartals to demonstrate their power. One hopes to see normalcy return soon to Kerala.