Thiruvananthapuram: The state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala, Kummanam Rajasekharan, on Monday lit a new controversy, stating that the Malabar Rebellion of 1921 was in fact a communal mass murder.

The BJP state president’s comment comes at a time when the BJP and Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India Marxist are adopting aggressive posturing against each other.

“To call the Malabar Rebellion of 1921, in which a large number of Hindus were killed, as part of the independence movement, is akin to humiliating the majority community and discrediting history,” Rajasekharan said.

The BJP state president asked if the rebellion was indeed part of the independence movement, what was the reason for killing so many innocents and setting fire to temples. He said it was high time that the adulation accorded to the rebellion was ended.

The Malabar Rebellion of 1921, known as the Mappila Lahala in local parlance, was an armed uprising by Muslims in Malabar, which began as a backlash against British repression of the Khilafat Movement.

While the rebels attacked British government offices, courts and police stations, a number of Hindus were also massacred, leading to difference of opinion whether the rebellion was indeed purely part of the Indian independence struggle.

Meanwhile, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan hit out at the BJP and its president Amit Shah, stating that “there is no place in Kerala for the style of politics practiced by the BJP president that is based on religion, caste and money”.

Taking offence to the BJP march to the CPM office, he told Amit Shah in a statement, “You are the president of the party that is ruling India. It is a violation of democratic principles to lead your cadres in a march to the office of another political party in the country that operates democratically”.

Pointing him out by name, Vijayan said, “Mr Amit Shah, you are treading a path that goes against democracy”.

Political aggression between the BJP and CPM has escalated over the past fortnight. Police had registered a case against BJP former state president, V. Muraleedharan for an offensive slogan last week. The BJP cadres had shouted that they would chop off the hand of CPM Kannur district secretary, P. Jayarajan.