Kerala CM Calls All-Party Meeting to Restore Peace in Kannur

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has taken the lead in restoring peace in Kannur and called an all-party meeting, trying to bring peace to the violence-hit district.

While addressing the media after talks, he said that they cannot approve of somebody storming into the police station and releasing accused held.

This indirectly hints at the CPM as there have been instances of party cadre gheraoing police stations.

Political analysts say that this should be seen as a image makeover move. Vijayan was portrayed as the no-nonsense and tough chief minister but that image has been hit in the past 10 months since he took over, following several incidents of violence with seven political murders in Kannur alone.

"The increasing cases of violence were showing the government and the chief minister in a bad light. Even in the other areas they could not live up to the promise. This has created a dent in his image. But this is a positive step to restore peace in the area," said J Prabhash, political analyst and HOD of Political science, Kerala university.

This could very well be the first step for rebuilding the image. The major decisions of the all party meeting were that the police should take stringent action in case of an incident, no political leader should interfere and the police should work independently.

They said that in many cases, the violence happened locally without the knowledge of the party leadership and immediately the local or district leadership should take the initiative to calm down their workers.

The police should intensify their raids for weapons and country-made bombs used for attacks in the area. No party should indulge in storming into the police station and releasing the accused, it was decided in the meeting.

The meeting also decided that if violence happens leaders should immediately take measures for it to not escalate. An all party delegation should visit the house of the victim in case of a political murder.

This is the first time Vijayan has taken the lead to hold an all-party meeting in the district. Ahead of the all party meeting there was also a bi-lateral meeting between CPM and the BJP-RSS leadership to find a lasting solution to the political violence in Kannur district.

The chief minister stressed the need for political intervention from all sides to bring an end to the political killings in the district.