Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan alleges of hate campaign by BJP over elephant killing

Irked with the attack on Kerala by the Centre, especially BJP leader and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi, over the killing of an elephant with explosives, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that attempts were made to bring in bigotry into the incident.

"It is an organised campaign against Kerala, especially Malappuram. Unfortunately, some union ministers were also joining it. It could be an attempt to tarnish Kerala's image as it was effectively resisting COVID-19," he told reporters.

Maneka stated that the killing of elephant took place in Malappuram district and the district was known for such murders and it is India's most violent district. "It's murder, Malappuram is famous for such incidents, it's India's most violent district, for instance, they throw poison on roads so that 300-400 birds and dogs die at one time," she told a news agency.

The Chief Minister said that the elephant was found in part of Palakkad district only, while there were misleading reports initially that it was in Malappuram district. Three persons were suspected to be involved in the elephant's killing.

Vijayan strongly reacted through a series of tweets also. "Having said that, we are saddened by the fact some have used this tragedy to unleash a hate campaign. Lies built upon inaccurate descriptions and half-truths were employed to obliterate the truth. Some even tried to import bigotry into the narrative. Wrong priorities."

Despite strong criticism in the social media that Maneka was targeting Malappuram district as it was a Muslim dominated area and parts of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad constituency comes under the district, Maneka further tweeted that Malappuram was know for its intense criminal activity especially with regards to animals. No action has ever been taken against a single poacher or wildlife killer so they keep doing it.

Meanwhile, forest department sources said that even as the elephant died at Mannarkkad on Palakkad - Malappuram border area, the elephant was part of the Silent Valley National Park in Palakkad district. Hence the elephant could have suffered the explosion most likely in parts of Palakkad district only, said forest department sources.

Sources also said that there was no even conclusive evidences that the explosion suffered after biting cracker in pineapple. That was just an assumption as there used to be crude practice among farmers to target wild animals using crackers in pineapple.