Speaking against the death of a pregnant elephant with explosives in its mouth in Kerala, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi questioned the inaction on the incident in Malappuram district and asked why Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi was not taking any action.
"Action should be taken against everyone who is suspected in Malappuram. These are repeat offenders. Whether it is children being sold in orphanages, as we have found, it is Malappuram. Whether it is people being killed, look at the crime rate in Malappuram. What is being done in Malappuram? Nothing. Look at the communal conflict there. Highest in Malappuram. We take so much action against other districts, why is no action being taken against Malappuram. Rahul Gandhi is from the area, why is he not taking action?"
She further said, reported ANI: "It is murder, Malappuram is famous for such incidents; it is India's most violent district. For instance, they throw poison on roads so that 300-400 birds and dogs die at one time. Kerala government has not taken any action in Malappuram, it seems they are scared. An elephant is killed every three days in Kerala. We have less than 20,000 elephants left in India, they are rapidly declining."
The elephant had consumed a pineapple filled with powerful fire crackers which exploded in the animal's mouth in the Silent Valley Forest and died about a week later. The elephant died at Velliyar River on May 27 after efforts by forest personnel to bring it to the river bank using two other trained elephants failed. The post-mortem revealed that the pachyderm was pregnant. Her jaw was broken and she was unable to eat after she chewed the pineapple and it exploded in her mouth.
The Kerala government on Wednesday said a wildlife crime investigation team will probe the incident, even as the Centre took a serious note of it and sought a report from the state
