Yogi urges Kerala to discard CPM

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the BJP’s star presence in its state-wide Janaraksha Yatra in Kerala, on Wednesday said it was time the state returned to its ‘sanatana dharma’ roots and discarded what he called the ruling CPM’s politics of violence.

Addressing party activists in Kannur, Adityanath called for an “awakening” against the killings of Sangh Parivar workers by the CPM, and said Kerala should reinstate its ethos as defined by the likes of Adi Shankara. “The CPM doesn’t believe in democracy. Their cadres raise slogans for secularism, but also pave the way for a jihadi terror base on this land,” he said.

Adityanath arrived at Keecheri on Wednesday morning to join the yatra, led by BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, on a stretch of over 10 km. The rally, flagged off on Tuesday, will culminate in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17. The BJP has projected the yatra as a call against “jihadi and Left terror”.

Earlier, the CPM resorted to sarcasm, inviting Adityanath to observe and learn how hospitals in Kerala functioned. Adityanath, retorting to the obvious reference to the Gorakhpur hospital deaths, hit back with figures of dengue and chikungunya deaths in Kerala.