The mob lynching of Ram Narayan, a Dalit migrant labourer from Chhattisgarh, at Valayar in Palakkad on suspicion of being a “felonious alien from Bangladesh", has raised the spectre of xenophobic hate politics rearing its head in Kerala.
The mobile phone captures of the“mob murder”, starkly reminiscent of the lynchings of marginalised sections of society for eating beef in North India, had gone viral on social and conventional media, leaving Kerala aghast.
Ram Narayan’s mob trial and public execution on suspicion of being a thief also drew widespread criticism from across the political aisle.
In a Facebook post, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the crime. He said the killing of Ram Narayan was an aberration, atypical of progressive Kerala. Such criminals, he stated, have no place in a democratic society. He announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the District Police Chief of Kozhikode to investigate the case. He said the government would compensate the bereaved family and ensure that Ram Narayan’s mortal remains are returned to his native village free of charge.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said Ram Narayan’s killing was a blot on Kerala’s humanist legacy. “It’s a shame that the Keralites perpetrated the lynching," he said.
Revenue Minister K. Rajan met Ram Narayan’s family, promised compensation, and requested that they accept the guest worker’s mortal remains.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for the killing. “Those arraigned as accused in the case are RSS workers indicted for attempting to murder CPI(M) activists in Palakkad,” he said.
Mr. Govindan said secular progressive forces should muster in strength to prevent the RSS from bringing polarising social conflict to Kerala.
Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh said that the RSS’s hate politics had manifested in Ram Narayan’s killing. The RSS’s Hindu majoritarian nationalist creed centres around othering Dalits, tribes, and minorities and seeks to portray people from other regions as “alien enemies”.
It has repeatedly used force to enforce brutal caste hierarchies in BJP-ruled States in North India. The Sangh Parivar was striving to gain a toehold in Kerala through polarising politics and social conflicts.
CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam accused the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) of being “suspiciously coy” about calling out the RSS for Ram Narayan’s killing. “UDF broadcasts a singular lack of political clarity by pussyfooting around the hate politics of far-right Hindutva forces, he said.