The death of a pregnant elephant, which consumed pineapple with firecrackers inside it in Palakkad district of Kerala, has become a political issue.
Former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, who is also an animal rights activist, on Wednesday insinuated that the incident had happened in Malappuram district, which she termed as India's "most violent district". Malappuram is a Muslim-majority district.
Responding to this, on Thursday, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who is leader of the opposition in the Kerala Assembly, addressed a letter to Maneka Gandhi. Chennithala alleged her statement on Malappuram had "given a space for airing hate speeches abusing a district and all its people. Social media is now full of hate speeches against a particular community". Chennithala demanded an apology from Maneka over the allegations.
@Manekagandhibjp.Your irresponsible statement has given space for airing hate speeches abusing a district & its people. Social media is now full of hate speeches against a particular community.Withdraw & apologize for your statement portraying this district as a centre of crime pic.twitter.com/z3DLeL4LC1
— Ramesh Chennithala (@chennithala) June 4, 2020
Chennithala added, "the crime rate of your district, Sultanpur, is much higher than that of Malappuram or any other district of Kerala". Sultanpur is the constituency represented by Maneka in Parliament.
Chennithala alleged that "some of your party (BJP) colleagues have even gone to the extent of fabricating news that the unfortunate incident has happened in Wayanad, the constituency represented by Rahul Gandhi".
Chennithala further argued that the farmers in the region used to stuff crackers in fruits to ward off wild boars, and the elephant could have "accidentally chewed on one such fruit". Chennithala noted that depicting the incident as "someone feeding a pregnant elephant with cracker-filled pineapple, ascribing it to one particular district, and casting innuendos at a particular community... cannot be seen as any love for animals”.
Chennithala also declared that politicians and celebrities "kept their mouths shut for obvious reasons" despite 160 migrant workers dying as they were travelling to their homes.
Chennithala's letter comes as rightwing Twitter handles started circulating two Muslim-sounding names as being behind the incident. The names "Amzath Ali and Thamim Shaikh" were circulated by numerous handles on Friday, with people claiming two individuals with these names were arrested over the elephant's killing.
On Friday, it was reported that a farmer named Wilson had been arrested for the death of the elephant.
The Congress on Thursday accused the BJP of giving a "communal colour" to the killing of the pregnant elephant in Kerala and said the saffron party leaders were deliberately spreading "false information" on the issue.
Congress general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal demanded that the BJP tender an unqualified and unconditional public apology for giving a communal colour to the "most unfortunate incident". “... Senior BJP leaders like Maneka Gandhi and Cabinet ministers like Prakash Javadekar are deliberately spreading false information on this unfortunate tragedy," he said.
