In Kasaragod district of Kerala, a local BJP leader’s daughter, who is in class XI, appealed for help in a Facebook video after CPM workers allegedly threatened to kill her father.
Ashwini, the BJP leader Sukumaran’s daughter, said in the video that her father recently joined the BJP in presence of state president Kummanam Rajasekharan at a function in Kanjangad.
“Local CPM leaders did not like my father joining the BJP as this area is known to be a stronghold of the Communists,” she said in the video.
“Day before yesterday, me and my father were returning from my school in Karinthalam when five CPM workers threatened him for joining the BJP. They said that they will not let him live and that they will kill him in the town itself. They boasted that they are not scared of anyone, especially the police,” Ashwini added.
She also mentioned the name of the CPM workers who threatened her father. She said, “To go to school, I have to walk to Karinthalam for 20 minutes. Now, my father is accompanying me. Yesterday, we had to take an alternative route because they were waiting for us.”
“Since they said that they are not scared of the police, I don’t know if going to the police will help. I am going through emotional trauma. There has to be a solution to this,” she said.
Since Ashwini’s video on Facebook has gone viral, the BJP has asked security for Sukumaran and his family.
The local unit of the CPM, however, dismissed the threats calling it a mere ‘political stunt’ and a ‘bid to make news.’
“This guy (Sukumaran) was never associated with our party so there is no reason to threaten him. He used to be a member of the CPI, then crossed over into Congress. We heard he was also a part of a rationalist group and then became a Naxal. Now, he has joined the BJP. Every election, he changes parties,” TK Ravi, CPM area secretary, said to the Indian Express.
“After seeing the video, I enquired but no such threat has been made. They have filed a police complaint, so we will fight it legally,” he added.