By Scroll Staff
The Kerala government on Monday alleged that the migrant worker from Chhattisgarh who was lynched in Palakkad on December 17 was a “victim of Sangh Parivar’s hate politics”, reported The Indian Express.
The Sangh Parivar refers to the group of Hindutva organisations led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre.
Ramnarayan Baghel, 31, was a resident of Champa district and had travelled to Kerala on December 13. He was lynched in Attappallam village after being suspected of theft.
In a video of the incident, the assailants can be heard asking Baghel: “Are you a Bangladeshi?” reported The Indian Express.
Kerala’s Local Self Government Minister MB Rajesh said that Baghel had been “attacked after being stigmatised as Bangladeshi”, the newspaper reported.
Rajesh, who is a Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader from Palakkad, alleged that the assailants included RSS workers, who are facing criminal charges in other cases.
“The migrant worker who came in search of a job was tried (sic) and assaulted, accused of being a Bangladeshi,” Rajesh was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “He is a victim of the racial hatred being spread by Sangh Parivar in the country.”
On Thursday, the Kerala Police arrested five persons in the case and charged them with murder, according to the newspaper.
Baghel’s family refused to receive his body at the Thrissur Medical College Hospital on Sunday, reported The Hindu. They demanded compensation of Rs 25 lakh and for the state government to bear the cost of transporting the body to his village.
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