State, national leaders blast Kerala House incident
Kerala MPs stage protest outside Kerala House over beef controversy in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/ NEW DELHI: The Delhi police raid on Kerala House in connection with the beef issue has snowballed into a major controversy with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy taking up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan rushing to the national capital to lead the protest against the police high-handedness.
In his letter, Mr Chandy said, “A few unidentified persons accompanied by Delhi police officials entered the Kerala House pre-mises and conducted a raid on the staff canteen around 4 pm. Based on wrong information, they disrupted the functioning of the staff canteen alleging that cooked cow meat was being served.
“The Delhi police personnel then questioned the Kerala House staff regarding the food served at the canteen. This raid was conducted without any permission or even prior intimation to the resident commissioner or controller of Kerala House. The state government has already lodged a formal compl-aint on the matter before the commissioner.
“I seek the personal intervention of the Prime Minister in instructing the Union home minister to take stringent action against those responsible for trespassing into the state government property and ensure that these kind of incidents do not occur again,” Mr Chandy added in his letter.
CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan, who dashed to Delhi following the incident, said the incident “questioned the pride and food habits of Malayalis.”
“The Chief Minister of the state has reacted very mildly to the issue. He should have flown to Delhi to voice his protest against the issue.” He added that the Delhi police should have shown some restraint in the matter.
A divide was being created on the basis of food habits, CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan said and alleged that 70 per cent of the RSS workers in Kerala ate beef.
The MPs of Left parties from the state staged a protest against the Delhi police in front of Kerala House.
West Bengal CM Mama-ta Banerjee and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also came down heavily on the Delhi police.
“I strongly condemn what happened in Delhi at Kerala Bhavan. An unwise and unhealthy attempt to curb the fundamental rights of people. Intolereance (sic),” said Ms Banerjee in her tweet.
Mr Kejriwal was even more scathing in his attack against the Delhi police and the BJP. In back-to-back tweets, the Delhi Chief Minister said; “I strongly condemn Del police raid on Kerala house. I agree with Kerala CM that Kerala House is a govt est & not a pvt hotel.”
In another tweet, he said: “Will Del Police go n arrest a CM from a state Bhavan in del if they suspect the CM to be eating something that BJP or Modiji don’t like?.”
“Del police had no business to enter Kerala House. It is an attack on fed structure. Del police is acting like BJP Sena, ” tweeted Mr Kejriwal.
Opposition Leader V.S. Achuthanandan said the raids are a clear proof that Modi would not hesitate to intrude into the powers vested with the state governments.
It was shameful that the chief minister of the state had not shown any anger. “It is unfortunate that our chief minister does not have the spine to openly attack Sangh Parivar,” he said in a statement.
KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran said the police raid on Kerala House was a challenge to the federal system. He lashed out at the Delhi police saying that it was a fascist move from the central government which would not be tolerated.
However, BJP state president V. Muraleedharan justified the raid saying that Delhi law was applicable to all. He said the CM jumped the gun on the issue and should say sorry to people.
Some persons had gone to have food at the annexe canteen. On the display board, all items were written in English but for one which was mentioned in Malayalam.
On inquiry they found it was beef. When they tried to take pictures of the board on their cell phone, the staff assaulted them following which they called the police, he said.
BEEF FRY TO BE BACK
The ‘beef fry,’ however, will be back on the Kerala House menu from Wednesday after it was taken off the menu on Tuesday following the police raid.
Congress leader A.K. Antony observed that it was the “individual's freedom to decide what to eat and wear, and that freedom should not be infringed upon.”
Kerala chief secretary Jiji Thomson denied that cow meat was served at Kerala House and said they will wait for ‘police action’ in the wake of the complaint by the state's resident commissioner over the entry of activists.
“I totally deny that cow meat was served at the canteen of Kerala House. Only buffalo meat is served,” Mr Thomson said and added the police should have entered it with permission.
After the outrage and criticism of the police action, police commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi denied that the Kerala House was being raided and claimed that it was merely a “preventive measure. It was not a raid. It, in fact, was a preventive measure as per our standing operating procedures,” Mr Bassi said.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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