The national uproar over the death of a wild elephant in Kerala has snowballed into a political controversy, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alleging a concerted move to discredit the state, particularly the Muslim-dominated Malappuram.
The incident actually happened in the Mannarkkad area of Palakkad district, famous for the Silent Valley evergreen rain forest. The elephant died as it ate a crackers-laden pineapple, which blasted the poor animal’s mouth and tongue, forcing it to starve to death. A post-mortem revealed that the elephant was pregnant.
A national uproar was set off by a tweet from an animal activist and Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi, who described it as ‘murder’ and said Malappuram is famous for such incidents and that it is India’s most violent district.
This was followed by a warning by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar that stern action will be taken against those who killed the wild elephant in Kerala.
The state government has since launched a probe into the incident and promised stern action against those who are found responsible. Police has taken one person into custody for interrogation.
According to reports, the crackers-laden pineapple was meant to kill wild boars that enter village settlements bordering the forest and destroy crops. Wild elephants also stray into the settlements looking for food and water.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told mediapersons during his COVID-19 briefing that the elephant’s death was a painful event, but regretted that it was being used to hurt Kerala’s pride and neutralise the goodwill created by the state’s successful defence against COVID-19.
He pointed out that the incident happened in Mannarkkad, but those who campaign against the state were misrepresenting facts by claiming that it was in Malappuram. If this was a mistake, they would have corrected it, but since they haven’t done that, it must be considered as deliberate, the chief minister added.
Malappuram has often been targeted by BJP leaders due to its Muslim majority and when Rahul Gandhi contested the Lok Sabha polls from neighbouring Wayanad, Amit Shah had described it as a ‘mini-Pakistan’ citing the green flags fluttering at an election meetings. The flags actually belonged to the Indian Union Muslim League, an ally of Congress.
Vijayan said human beings, animals, plants and trees, water bodies were all integral to nature and the government would examine how best to reduce the conflict between man and the animals.
