Kerala Assembly: Opposition UDF stages walkout blaming government, CPI(M) for ‘cult of crude bomb violence’ in Kannur

UDF Opposition in Kerala condemns CPI(M) for crude bomb violence in Kannur, leading to deaths of innocents, sparking heated Assembly debate.

Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition walked out of the Kerala Assembly on June 19 condemning the government and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] for the “cult of crude bomb violence” that has claimed the lives of scores of innocents, including children, over the past years, in Kannur.

Congress legislator Sunny Joseph led the attack against the Treasury Benches by moving a notice for adjournment motion for an emergency debate on the circumstances that led to the death of an 86-year-old man, Velayudhan, in a crude bomb explosion at Eranjoli, near Thalassery, in Kannur district on June 18. 

Mr. Joseph said the octogenarian had stumbled on an explosive device concealed in a steel container while scouting around in an abandoned compound for fallen coconuts. Curiosity prompted Velayudhan to pry open the container, setting off an explosion that killed him. 

Mr. Joseph said Velayudhan’s death was the latest incident in a series of accidental crude bomb explosions that have claimed the lives of several persons, including bomb-makers beholden to the CPI(M), in Kannur.

The victims included two scrap pickers, a father and a son from Assam, children, MNREG scheme workers, and Congress and IUML workers.

Mr. Joseph accused the CPI(M) of lionising bomb-makers, including building monuments for those killed while fabricating crude incendiary devices for use against political rivals and succouring their families in “party villages”.

Mr. Joseph angered the Treasury Benches by alleging that CPI(M) leader P. Jayarajan’s son sustained injuries when making a crude bomb. Speaker A.N. Shamseer told Mr. Joseph to dwell on contemporary matters and not hark back to incidents more than a decade ago.