His benign demeanor perfectly hides his devilish nature and intentions. He is the most feared politician in Kannur — the Marxist bastion known to the outside world as the ‘Killing Fields of Kerala’ — after state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He is the key figure in the ‘Kannur lobby’ within the CPI(M) that rules the roost in the party.
P Jayarajan, CPI(M)’s Kannur district secretary, controls the district along with two other Jayarajans – EP and MV. While the latter Jayarajans resemble somewhat like villains of Tamil films, P Jayarajan is blessed with a soft and pleasant face. But people who know him from close quarters say he is the most ruthless of them all.
EP Jayarajan, the former district secretary, had to quit the ministerial berth within months of holding the office, of course due to a controversy arose in connection with the appointment of his relative in industries department he presided. MV Jayarajan now runs the home ministry on behalf of CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
P Jayarajan cut his teeth as a political activist at the Kerala Students Federation (earlier avatar of SFI). Later, he joined KSYF, progenitor of DYFI, and then he graduated to CPI(M). The first serious responsibility he shouldered in the party was that of area secretary of Koothuparambu. Senior CPM leader and MLA of Thalassery constituency late MV Rajagopalan alias Raju Master was his ‘godfather’ in the initial days of his political career. Raju was the brain behind murder politics in Kannur. He led and controlled goons and allegedly deployed them to attack political rivals, in most cases RSS workers. Panoor, Koothupramabu, ‘Thalasserry and Dharmadam were the main centres of political violence. The situation still continues even today. Ninety per cent of the murders of the Sangh workers in Kannur have taken place in these areas. (Now, of course Mattannur and Iritti have been added to the list).
Raju Master was sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the murder of Pannyannoor Raveendran, an RSS worker, killed in 1979. But later on he won the appeal from the high court and was acquitted.
Those days witnessed the highest number of political murders in Kannur district. Thousands of cases had been registered in connection with the clashes and murders took place in that area. Even though the first RSS worker killed by CPM men in Kannur district was Vadikkal Ramakrishnan, the series of murders, which still continue, was unleashed in 1978. Raju Master was controlling the hit gangs of CPM. And, P. Jayarajan was his trusted lieutenant. In 1994, Mohanan, an RSS worker, was killed. Even though P. Jayarajan was an accused in that case he was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The present CPM state secretary and former home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan got married to Raju Master’s daughter. Raju Master later became a drunkard. He was expelled from the party. During the remaining years no one was there to look after him, according to the news gathered from Thalaserry.
Jayarajan’s next ‘revolution’ was the attack on the post office in Koothuparambu. He was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in this connection. Then the high court reduced it into one year. Due to the pendency of the punishment Jayarajan could not fight the assembly election during that period. Still the case is going on. Then came the Kathiroor Manoj murder case. Jayarajan was an accused in the murder of Manoj, the district Shareerik Pramukh of RSS. Murder took place on September 1, 2014. It was revealed later that the first accused was asked to come back home, from his foreign stint, by Jayarajan to execute the Manoj murder. The way the story was unfolded is really shocking. When the T.P. Chandrasekharan (Rebel CPM leader killed by the CPM killers on May 4, 2012) murder accused were interrogated by the special inquiry team led by a senior police officer Shoukathali, one of them said that Jayakrishnan Master murder (killing of state vice president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in front of his students while he was teaching in a primary school on December 1, 1999) was executed by Jayarajan’s close aide Vikraman. After committing the crime, Vikraman fled to a Gulf country.
Party workers say Jayarajan was behind the murder CPI(M) rebel TP Chandrasekharan. TP’s body was chopped into pieces. The planning is so meticulously done that the real culprit always manages to escape, even if the rival combine UDF is ruling the state. BJP has been alleging that both Congress-led UDF and CPM-led LDF have been practicing compromise politics in the state. “I scratch your back, and you scratch mine” is the policy they have been following since long. It is because both are having enough skeletons in their respective cupboards. Now, the CBI is inquiring into the involvement of P. Jayarajan in the conspiracy led to Manoj’s murder.
It is assumed that Vikraman escaped to Gulf, allegedly using a fake passport. RSS Kannur Vibhag Karyavah V. Sasidharan told, It was revealed that Jayarajan had spoken to Vikraman, while he was abroad, several times before he returned home and executed the murder or Manoj. The high court has allowed CBI to invoke UAPA against Jayarajan considering his involvement in the conspiracy hatched to murder Manoj as per CrPC 120. Now, the petition to waive UAPA is before the Supreme Court of India. Manoj was killed in the fourth attempt. Manoj was bombed eight months before the TP murder. RSS leader Sasidharan told this correspondent that when Manoj was attacked and hacked the second time he escaped with injuries. But, Sasidharan’s younger brother Shaji lost his eyes in that attack.
After sustaining injuries in a clash in 1999, Jayarajan moved to a place called Kottiyodi from his Eastern Kathiroor residence. Jayakrishnan Master was killed three days after this shift. Incidentally, TK Rejish, one of the accused in the Jayakrishnan murder case, is an accused in the Manoj murder case also.
Ariyil Shukoor murder case is another one being probed by the CBI. Jayarajan is an accused in this case also. Murder of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) worker Aslam of Nadapuram is another case which people suspect the involvement of Jayarajan in. The modus operandi applied in this operation resembles that of the TP murder. In both cases, the bikes rode by the victims were hit by the cars. The fallen victims were hacked brutally and in inhuman manner. People suspect the role of Jayarajan in the murder of Youth Congress worker Shuhaib in Kannur district, a recent incident.
There are reports that CPI(M), read Jayarajan, has founded a Special Team (ST) to execute murders of the political opponents. Narayanan alias Manoraj, brother of Deshabhimani (Malayalam morninger and mouthpiece of CPM) editor PM Ranoj, is the alleged leader of this team. The murder of Pinarayi Sathyan (2008), an RSS worker, comes under the categories mentioned above. Manoraj is the first accused in the case. A significant matter to be noted here is the Facebook post of Jayarajan’s son when Manoj was killed. Celebrating the murder, his son write “The long awaited day” has come.
The grapevine has it that CM Pinarayi Vijayan wants to clip the wings of Jayarajan. But, since he controls the entire party apparatus in the district, party is not in a position to take the risk. The state leadership is not at all happy with Jayarajan. One of the main reasons is the carefully orchestrated designs of Jayarajan to cultivate a personality cult around him. Recently party had to discuss the way Jayarajan crossed all the limits of party discipline to market himself. Flex boards were put up across the district depicting Jayarajan in attires of Hindu gods. A CD was made with songs praising was released much to the chagrin of party higher-ups.
Jayarajan has broad-based his party through various schemes and initiatives. Village libraries, coaching for employment tests, etc. are some of the ways the party has designed to keep youth attracted. A good number of them get jobs. Ninety nine per cent of the criminals are in the payrolls of the party. Wives of the deceased get a job. CPM has got the peculiar methodologies to fulfill this. Recently a Kerala PSC member participated in the CPM Party Congress in Hyderabad along with her husband. She is Parvathi, the daughter of the late party ideologue P. Govinda Pillai. Husband is the former CPM MLA Sivankutty. Now, people suspect the political neutrality of the PSC. It drew the wrath of all political parties.
Jayarajan is always ridiculed by the conventional media and trolled by the social media for ‘developing’ chest pain whenever he had to face arrests in connection with the murder politics. But doctors could not find anything wrong with his health.
Whatever said and done, he holds the key for peace in Kannur. But the problem is that he is addicted to violence.
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