A bomb blast shattered the hand of a CPI(M) cadre on December 16 in Pinarayi, the home village of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in Kannur district. The incident occurred in the neighbourhood of the Chief Minister’s village home.
The blast victim, identified as Vipinraj, is a red cadre of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Images of Vipinraj in a red volunteer uniform and another photograph showing him holding a bomb moments before the explosion have been circulating on social media. According to reports, the blast occurred while Vipinraj was examining the bomb.
The incident comes amid reports of post-election violence involving CPI(M) cadres in several parts of Kerala. Organiser has earlier reported CPI(M)’s post-election violence in Wayanad district, Panoor in Kannur district, Bedakam in Kasaragod district, and Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram district. There have also been reports from Kannur where CPI(M) workers allegedly stopped a victory procession of the United Democratic Front using swords and daggers, in which UDF workers sustained injuries.
Vipinraj’s accident is not the first such incident reported from this area. Several CPI(M) workers have, in the past, lost or shattered their hands in similar blasts in the region. There were also earlier reports of a similar blast involving the son of P. Jayarajan, a senior CPI(M) leader in Kannur district.
The present blast site is reported to be an isolated place. Observers have rejected the argument that the explosion was caused by a firecracker. Notably, the CPI(M) has also not issued its usual statement alleging an attack by workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, or the Indian Union Muslim League.
Even as CPI(M) leadership attempts to project the Vipinraj incident as a firecracker blast, the nature of the explosion, according to local reports, suggests it was a real bomb. Meanwhile, there are indications from Kannur district that the CPI(M) may be planning to unleash violence in the region, a pattern that, according to reports, has been witnessed after previous electoral setbacks.
