The State on Friday witnessed a day of rising political tensions after a yet-to-be-identified person travelling on a two-wheeler detonated a throw-down type incendiary device against the boundary wall of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State headquarters at the AKG Centre here late Thursday.
The repercussions of the attack manifested in violence against Congress offices and symbols in at least two districts. Unidentified persons vandalised Indira Gandhi's statue in Alappuzha. They threw stones at the District Congress Committee (DCC) office in Kottayam.
Angry CPI(M) activists demonstrated across Kerala. In Alappuzha, marchers purportedly raised threatening slogans against Congress workers. The fraught political climate has forced the police to increase security in the vicinity of Congress and CPI(M) offices.
Investigators were pursuing several leads to identify the AKG centre "bomb thrower" to determine the motive behind the attack.
The explosion exacerbated political stresses, with the CPI(M) squarely blaming the Congress for the aggression. The Congress has termed the incident a CPI(M)-orchestrated diversionary tactic to deflect public attention from the scandals dogging the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran linked LDF convener E.P. Jayarajan to the "stage-managed" episode. He called the incident a ludicrous face-saving bid.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the groundswell of Opposition to the current disposition had alarmed the LDF. It had sought an escape route in the charade. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran termed the attack a "policing failure".
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, MP, inspected his regional office ransacked by the Students Federation of India (SFI) activists and said he harboured the “SFI kids no ill-will.” He asked all to shun violence.
Chief Minister Pinaray Vijayan visited the explosion scene and urged the police to bring the perpetrators to book. The CPI(M) State secretariat accused the Congress of aligning with right-wing forces to unleash anarchy in Kerala to mar the State's development climate.
The Congress-BJP smear campaign against Mr. Vijayan and his family and the Youth Congress bid on the Chief Minister's life on board an aircraft was part of the gambit. It also saw a bid to provoke the CPI(M) cadres into retaliatory action. The CPI(M) asked its cadres to exercise restraint and protest peacefully.
