They say that time is the best healer. How Abhimanyu's family can only wish that was true. A year since the SFI unionist's brutal murder, his family still finds it difficult to talk about him, without their eyes getting wet.
On July 2, 2018, Abhimanyu, a second year BSc Chemistry student in Maharaja's College, Ernakulam was stabbed to death. The murder was allegedly committed by the activists of the Campus Front of India and the Popular Front of India. Two other SFI unionists too were stabbed along with Abhimanyu. A year down the line, the investigating officers are yet to find a closure in the case.
Abhimanyu was the youngest of the three children of Manoharan, a farmer and his wife Bhoopathy. His oldest sibling Kowsalya worked in a textile shop at the time of his death, while his brother Parijith had dropped out of school, owing to poverty. He now works in a cooperative bank in Munnar.
A lot has changed for the family since last year, a lot of which were positive. The CPM had recently built them a house. The party also conducted Kowsalya's wedding on November 11. This wasn't a usual party wedding, where the bride and groom merely exchanged red garlands and that completely avoided religious rituals. Here, they only took care of the expenses.
Attending the wedding that was initially set to happen in August was one of Abhimayu's biggest dreams. That could be the reason why his family missed him the most on the day of the wedding. "I missed him a lot during the wedding. The wedding was already decided, but we had to push the date further, owing to Abhi's death," says Parijith.
Parijith misses his regular phone calls with his little brother. He's still not over his death and finds it difficult to speak about him. "I am not able to control my tears now. Every memory about him makes my heart heavy," he says, poignantly. Those phone calls are now replaced with occasional phone calls from Abhimanyu's friends. Some of them visit Vattavada regularly to meet Parijith and his parents.
While Abhimayu's parents are attending an event organised by the SFI at Maharaja's College, Parijith is staying back home, hosting a memorial service with his relatives and comrades in Idukki. "The comrades have planned something there. We also have a small event here," says Parijith, who is also a CPM worker.
Parijith had recently penned a rather emotional note on his Facebook wall, talking about how CPM and its workers stood by the family throughout and how the investigating officers are working constantly to nab the culprits. He also asked the people not to believe any rumours about the party ignoring their family. "Anyone who loves Abhimanyu shouldn't support the attempts to destroy the organisation and kill the remaining goodness on this earth," he wrote.
