New Delhi: Is Kerala's Kannur the most politically violent district? This immensely important question has cropped up once again after a CPM worker was killed here. The cops suspect it be another case of political murder.

The sickle and hammer, the Marxists' proletarian symbols, have, in fact, have literal meanings only in Kannur.

The political rivalry between the CPM-RSS here dates back to 1970s.
Here are the latest five incidents when allegedly politically motivated murders have taken place:

  • On Monday, a worker (52) of ruling CPM was hacked to death by some unidentified men and sources say the victim was attacked in his shop by four-five men in a busy market area. Cops suspect it to be a political murder, said sources.

  • In September, in a suspected retaliatory attack, a BJP worker (26) was hacked to death at Thillankeri in Kannur district, hardly two hours after a CPM man was injured in a bomb attack in the same area.

  • In July, this year, political rivalry led to the murder of CPM worker C V Danarajan. A BJP leader C K Ramachandran was killed in retaliation.

  • In June, there was a crude bomb explosion that killed two CPI-M party activists. The party denied it was behind the manufacture of crude bombs. K. Shyju, 39, and Sudheesh, 28, were killed in the explosion at Chettakkandy near Kannur and it was suspected that the explosion took place while “making bombs”.

  • In February, 2016 an RSS activist who was ferrying schoolchildren was dragged out of his autorickshaw and hacked to death.


During the last 45 years, nearly 180 people were murdered because of political violence in Kannur district of Kerala.

Kannur is unique in the sense that villages in the district are literally owned by political parties.
In a village dominated by say CPI-M members, the land and houses are only sold to people within the party fold so that the village is controlled by the Marxists.