People's Democracy

THIS was the RSS way. They may do anything to destroy their opponents. They kill the people, molest girls, burn the houses, and they instigate communal violence and riots. And all this they do without any care for the repercussions that their acts may have for the wider society. And now it seems they have innovated newer methods to harass their opponents. This is clear from what they did to Bindu, a member of the All India Democratic Women’s Association’s Pattanor area committee and president of its Kodolipram Amary committee in Kannur district of Kerala, on Friday, February 16.

Bindu is a young girl, only 20 years old. She is the daughter of Shri Gopalan, a peasant. On that day, she was returning after watering the vegetable plants which the family has cultivated in a nearby field. In between her house and the vegetable field, two masked goondas caught hold of her and shut her mouth with thick layers of cloth. Then they partly shaved her eyelids with a sharp blade. Next, she was forced down to the ground, and the assailants scratched three bold, hated letters on her left leg: R S S. They did it with the sharp end of the daggers they had with them. Incidentally, in Kannur district, the RSS gang does not move without any weapons.

The assailants have been identified; they are active RSS workers and the owners of illegal distilleries that produce illicit alcohol. Some time ago, an anti-hooch defence committee was organised in the area and it has been actively working under the leadership of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA). The pre-degree educated Bindu is an active worker of this committee. RSS men have been threatening the girl constantly on this account. She has been receiving anonymous letters for the last few months. When she visited some houses as part of her campaign for her organisation, it was interpreted to be an attempt to uncover the illegal distilleries.

The girl was frightened after the assault and kept mum for the whole day. Next day she revealed the incident to her colleagues in the AIDWA. Then she was admitted to the Mattannur Government Hospital. She fainted several times while explaining the gruesome incident to the mediapersons and the CPI(M) and AIDWA leaders. She revealed that the RSS workers of the locality had threatened her on several occasions. They had told her that she would not be able to stop their illicit liquor distilling. She was warned that a full stop would be put to her life if she did not pay heed to their threats.

The AIDWA has come forward to help Bindu and in protest against this inhuman assault on a young lady by RSS assailants. The incident has shocked the conscientious people of the whole state. It is barbarity taken to its extremes. But who knows how many dirtier games the RSS can play; how many dirtier weapons are there in its arsenal! The vandalism is in fact an exhibition of the dirty mindset and nefarious politics of this communal-fascist outfit.