Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has a simple and logical solution to end political violence in Kerala. "Those who had picked up the knife just have to drop it," the chief minister said while responding to an adjournment motion on the law and order issue in the Assembly on Wednesday.

From the crime figures read out by the chief minister, it can be gathered that the CPM is not among those who have picked up the knife.

Between January 25, 2021, and February 21 this year there were six political murders, the chief minister said. "In these six political murders, the main accused belonged to the SDPI, BJP, RSS, Youth Congress and the KSU. "From this it is clear that the UDF is joining forces with communal elements to turn Kerala into a killing field," the chief minister said.

"The need of the hour is to expose the communal forces. Instead, you are encouraging violence and trying to put the government in the dock," he told the opposition.

Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan hit back at the chief minister. "You can accuse us of anything in the world but to accuse the UDF of engineering a law and order breakdown would be a joke. Also, we don't require lessons of non-violence from the CPM," Satheesan said.

He said the CPM functioned far more cruelly than even terrorist organisations. "Terrorists kill their prey with one swish of the knife or would shoot them to death. But you keep hacking and disfiguring faces long after death. Also, terrorists don't plan murders in as meticulous a fashion as the CPM," the opposition leader said.

"You pick your target, choose the killers and give them money and vehicles. They are then told how to carry out the act, and after the killing, where to abandon the weapons and the vehicle. The area committee that would protect the killers would also have been chosen in advance," he said.

Satheesan then seemed to suggest that the death of engineering student Dheeraj in Idukki, in which Youth Congress members were involved, resulted when a small group attempted to save themselves from a violent crowd rushing towards them.

"You had a situation where six men were chased by 150," Satheesan said, causing belligerent provocation on the other side. "I am not justifying anything and we will not protect the guilty but I just want the chief minister to ask his police what happened in the Idukki college campus," Satheesan spoke over the angry outbursts from the ruling side.

The chief minister had earlier ridiculed the opposition saying that they were reluctant to even remotely criticise the activities of communal forces.

Satheesan picked apart the chief minister's charge. "You accuse us of joining with communal forces but on the very day your party worker (Haridasan) was brutally hacked to death by Sangh Parivar elements in Thalassery, you shamelessly colluded with the BJP to destabilise UDF rule in nearby Kumbala panchayat. Even the BJP workers in Kumbala were angry with K Surendran for his secret deal with the CPM. That's not all. You had sought the votes of SDPI to bring us down in Eerattupetta panchayat," Satheesan said.

Muslim League MLA N Shamsudheen, who moved the motion, attributed the twin murders of SDPI and BJP workers in Alappuzha, the bomb death and Haridasan's murder in Kannur and the death of Twenty Twenty member Deepu in Kizhakkambalam to police inaction. "The police were aware of the existing threats to life. Your police could not save the life of even Haridasan, a CPM worker. Though he had told the police of a threat to his life, the police just warned him to be careful and did nothing else, " Shamsudheen said.

He said that Pinarayi Vijayan might have failed in creating an effective industrial corridor but he had successfully created a "goonda corridor" across Kerala. He said that there were over 25 instances of gooda violence in the capital district, "right under the nose of the chief minister and the top police brass".

He said the LDF government had created a conducive ambience for hassle-free criminal activity. " All the criminals convicted for T P Chandrasekharan's brutal killing are out on parole. They spend more time outside than in jail. Each of them were given a parole of 200 days and as if that was not enough were given a COVID vacation of an additional 250 days," Shamsudheen said.

"And one of them, Keermani Manoj, participated in a rave party in Wayanad from where illegal drugs of the most extreme variety were confiscated," he said. "You are afraid to touch Keermani Manoj," Shamsudheen said.

Satheesan used the Kottayam East Police Sation incident, where a history sheeter deposited the body of a teenager he had kidnapped, tortured and killed, to demonstrate the sorry state of Kerala police. "When the goonda was making a chest-thumping performance in front of the station after throwing down the dead body, the policemen locked the door from inside and secretly peeped out to see what the goonda was up to," Satheesan said.

This provoked the chief minister. He got up and asked whether Satheesan had seen this. "You go and ask your police what happened there," Satheesan shot back.