Kochi: Kerala is known for its bandhs and hartals. But here comes the jumbo of all strikes. Elephants in the State have ”refused” to take part in any festivities protesting against a ban placed on one of their tallest comrades — ”Thechikottukavu Ramachandran”. The jumbo strike is sponsored by elephant owners who are wild with the state forest department”s continued ban on ”Thechikottukavu Ramachandran” — the tallest elephant in the state. To make matters worse, Forest Minister K Raju made ”insinuations” through a Facebook post against the owners calling them a mafia.
Soon after, the Kerala Elephant Owners Federation announced that it would withdraw their elephant sfrom all temple festivities starting May 11. This means that the mother of all festivals in Kerala — the annual Thrissur Pooram on May 13 — would face an elephantine problem. One of the major highlights of Thrissur Pooram is the parading of 30 elephants at one go. A ban was placed on Ramachandran because the 54-year-old is partially blind. But the real reason for the ban ordered by Chief Wildlife Warden came in when Ramachandan killed two people at a housewarming ceremony in Guruvayur in February this year. The tusker has killed 13 people so far.
But elephant crazy Kerala love Ramachandran regardless of his violent side because by far he is head and shoulder above all elephants. Ramachandran is also loved because he has a knack of bursting through the southern door of the famous Vadakumnathan Temple to signal the start of Pooram festivities. For several years, Ramachandran has been participating in the ritual. P Sasikumar, president of the federation, alleged Forest Minister K Raju, through his Facebook post, had gone back on his word on suspending the present ban on Ramachandran. The owners collective wanted Ramachandran to make his presence felt at a ritual on the eve of the Pooram.
“In a meeting on April 10, the forest minister had promised that the elephant would be allowed to parade with reasonable restrictions by accepting the recommendations of the high-level committee (tasked with deciding on parading the elephant). He has now gone back on his word. Also, he says that the owners are part of a mafia who use elephants to earn crores of rupees,” said Sasikumar. “So we’ve decided that we would not allow any of our member elephants for public parading. The devaswoms (temple committees) of Paramekkavu and Thiruvambady can parade their elephants because they have to participate in the Pooram. We cannot ask them not to parade even though their elephants are part of our federation,” he added.
