A CPM activist, injured in Sunday’s attack, at the Jantar Mantar rally in Delhi. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, March 10: The Centre today warned of criminal proceedings against those involved in the attack on the CPM’s Delhi headquarters and rejected the BJP’s demand for action against Left-ruled Kerala, which has been bloodied by political violence.

A group of BJP-RSS workers had stormed A.K. Gopalan Bhavan yesterday morning and pelted the CPM office and leaders with stones, leaving five central committee members injured.

The assault was a ripple-effect of a turf war in Kerala’s Kannur district, where five RSS and two CPM workers have been killed.

The CPM, which took out a rally in the capital, said BJP and RSS men were continuing to harass its workers and leaders.

It alleged that “BJP-RSS goons, some of them masked, barged into the house” of V.J.K. Nair, the secretary of the CPM’s Karnataka state committee, today, “ransacked” it and threatened his wife.

Home minister Shivraj Patil told the Rajya Sabha that action would be taken against the guilty and the Centre would hold talks with the Kerala government for restoration of peace in the state.

Patil’s assurance came after an impromptu debate on the Sunday morning raid. While the Left pointed fingers at Sangh parivar supporters, BJP leaders sought to turn the glare on the attack on their cadres in Kannur, which they said was the “root cause” of the Delhi assault.

“Anybody who has committed a crime will be proceeded against....You can rest assured this will be done,” the home minister said.

Patil, however, ruled out a central probe into the Kerala violence, saying the federal structure must be respected. “It is not possible for the Government of India to start an inquiry.... Then I will be doing it for other states, too.”

Around 500 CPM activists assembled at Jantar Mantar this morning, carrying placards demanding the arrest of leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Jagdish Mukhi and Delhi mayor Arti Mehra.

Addressing the gathering, CPM central committee member P.M.S. Grewal said: “We demand that the police arrest all culprits involved in the whole episode, irrespective of the party they belong to or the designation they hold. We want security to be beefed up in the offices of all political parties.”

BJP demand

The BJP today said only an all-party delegation could unearth the “the cult of violence in the CPM”.

“Let an all-party delegation visit Kerala and file a report, which should be debated thoroughly in Parliament. If the CPM has nothing to hide, why don’t they agree to this simple suggestion,” senior leader Venkaiah Naidu told a news conference.

He accused the Left party of resorting to violence wherever it has an upper hand, be it Nandigram or Kannur. Naidu also reminded the reporters that CPM cadres had attacked the BJP headquarters in Delhi several times in the past.