Kannur: With the BJP expanding its footprint in Thalassery and Kuthuparamba assembly segments — longtime CPM bastions — temple festivals in the region are increasingly turning into flashpoints of political clashes.

Kolavallur police arrested five CPM workers on Wednesday for hacking and grievously injuring BJP-RSS worker Shaju Chaluparambath (39) at Poyiloor in Triprangottoor panchayat on Tuesday afternoon.

Shaju from Kollampatta in Panoor was attacked on his head while four others with him were also assaulted. They were returning from the festival at Muthappan Madappura at Vadakke Poyiloor, a BJP stronghold.

Kolavallur SHO Santhosh K said the accused were booked for unlawful assembly, rioting and other relevant sections. The officer said the attack was in retaliation to an earlier assault on CPM's Poyiloor Local Committee member Bijith Lal, a school teacher, allegedly by BJP workers around 1.30 pm on Tuesday during the festival. "These attacks stem from political rivalry and tend to escalate during temple festivals," he added.

Political clashes intensify
On February 20, the police became targets of political violence during the Manolikavu temple festival at Thiruvangad in Thalassery. Clashes between CPM and BJP workers led to police intervention, resulting in two FIRs. The first FIR named 27 CPM workers for assaulting four police officers who attempted to break up the fight. The second one accused 60 CPM workers of assaulting and abusing Sub-Inspector Deepthi V V, who tried to arrest CPM worker Dipin, who was allegedly at the forefront of assaulting the four police officers.

However, the CPM group allegedly blocked her, locked the temple gate, and forcibly took Dipin away. Police had made a few arrests in the case.

Panoor municipality's independent councillor Haris V said the region had remained peaceful for nearly a decade but feared a resurgence of violent politics. CPM's Triprangottoor panchayat member Shankaran T K echoed this concern. "There were a lot of political murders here in the past but things had settled. Now, tensions are rising again," he said.

During the Vadakara Lok Sabha election in 2024, a bomb explosion at Kaivelikkal killed CPM worker Sherin (31) and injured two others. Police said Sherin was making the bomb. One of the injured, Vinod, is a close relative of Kunnothuparamba panchayat president and CPM leader Latha K, while the other, Vineesh (24), is the son of a CPM local committee member.

The Congress-led UDF capitalised on the incident during the campaign. CPM leaders and Loktantric Janata Dal MLA from Kuthuparamba K P Mohanan, an ally of the CPM, attended Sherin's funeral, and called on the injured, too.

A growing turf war
A turf war is unfolding in Kunnothuparamba and Triprangottoor panchayats, extending into the Thalassery and Kuthuparamba assembly segments. In the 2016 elections, BJP's vote share in these constituencies rose by 10% and 7%, respectively to nearly 17%. However, in 2021, BJP's Kannur district president N Haridas' nomination for Thalassery was rejected. The party's Kuthuparamba candidate, Sadanandan, also saw a 3% drop in vote share in 2021.

In the 21-member Kunnothuparamba panchayat, the LDF holds 10 seats and controls the board, while the BJP, with three members, is aggressively expanding its influence.

In the 18-member Triprangottoor panchayat, the BJP also has three members but is a close second in eight wards.

Congress leaders attribute the latest clashes to CPM opening a new party office four months ago at Company Mukku in Triprangottoor panchayat. The ward is held by LJD, but BJP was a close second in the last local body election. BJP might be seeing the new CPM office as a direct challenge to its dominance in the area, said Sanoob K K, a Congress panchayat member.

In response, the BJP has started raising funds to construct its own office on a plot near the CPM's new office.

V P Surendran, the BJP panchayat member in Triprangottoor, dismissed such allegations. He alleged that the conflict began when CPM and DYFI workers attacked 15- and 16-year-old children participating in the procession for the Muthappan Madappura festival at Chamathakkad on March 10.

Tensions escalated the next day when CPM workers, including Bijith Lal, allegedly threatened the children again. "BJP workers only questioned Bijith Lal about the attack next day afternoon," Surendran claimed.

CPM panchayat member Shankaran, however, claimed that 50 BJP workers surrounded and assaulted Bijith Lal.

By 3.30 pm on March 11, as Shaju Chaluparambath and four BJP workers were returning from Muthappan Madappura, they were waylaid by suspected CPM workers. "When Shaju said he is from Poyiloor, they assumed he was a BJP supporter and attacked him," Surendran alleged.

Shaju hails from Panoor, a municipal town near Poyiloor. However the political divide in the region is so intense that entire localities are often assumed to be aligned with one party.