CPI(M) Kerala secretary courts controversy for remarks on Army

CPI(M) Kerala secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has stoked a controversy alleging that women belonging to minority communities were subjected to atrocities by Army personnel in states where the AFSPA was implemented.
The BJP reacted sharply saying the government should initiate criminal proceedings against Balakrishnan for insulting the Army.
"The AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, and Nagaland to check terrorism. Women, belonging to minority communities, were subjected to atrocities in these states by the Army," he alleged at a seminar on protection of minorities here yesterday.
"This is what will happen if the Act is implemented in Kannur as demanded by the BJP, RSS. So, all concerned persons should come forward to oppose the BJP's demand to impose the same here," he said.

Balakrishnan made the statement against the background of the BJP and the RSS's demand for imposing the AFSPA in politically sensitive Kannur after an RSS worker was hacked to death here, allegedly by the ruling CPI(M) activists earlier this month.
Kannur in north Kerala has witnessed a series of political murders and violence between the CPI(M) and the RSS, BJP workers after the LDF government came to power last year.
BJP state spokesperson J R Padmakumar said, "Balakrishnan's speech portraying the Indian Army, the pride of people and the country, as abductors and attackers of women amounted to sedition."
He also demanded that the police register a criminal case against the CPI(M) leader.