Six RSS men held over attempt to manhandle poet in Kerala

Police arrested six activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Tuesday over an alleged attempt to manhandle acclaimed Malayalam poet Kureepuzha Sreekumar near Kadakkal, in Kollam district.

A case has been registered against about 10 RSS activists in connection with the incident which happened late on Monday night.  The arrested men have been identified as Deepu, Manu, Kiran, Liju, Sreejith and Shyam.

The poet, while speaking at a cultural gathering hosted by a local library, is learnt to have mentioned recent incidents in the state that further exposed religious traditions that continued to encourage caste-based discrimination. Portions of the speech allegedly "provoked" the RSS activists who intercepted Sreekumar while he was about to enter a vehicle after the event. Even as he got into the car and was leaving the venue, the culprits slammed the vehicle and hurled abuses at him. "Six people including a local panchayat member were arrested this morning," a police official in Kadakkal told DH.

Dalits in Vadayampady, near Kochi, have been protesting against attempts to deny their access to a plot attached to a temple, so far used as a public space. In 2017, the agitators had also pulled down a wall that was erected by the temple management which claims ownership of the land.  "The event was held on an open ground. I told the audience about Vadayampady and that they should not let the ground become inaccessible to people based on their religion and caste," Sreekumar said.

Late on Monday night, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had directed the Kollam Rural District SP to conduct a detailed investigation on the incident. The Chief Minister said in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday that freedom of expression would be protected and assured strong action against all attempts to undermine it.

The  incident has set off outrage in the state's cultural circles, with protests announced in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

A recipient of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for poetry in 2011, Sreekumar is a prominent voice against religious fundamentalism in the state's socio-cultural spaces.