Palakkad, Kerala anddeath of Pregnant Elephant: Communalization of a TragedyRam Puniyani India, a plural society is undergoing the pangsof communalization at a rapid pace. In this process the religious minoritiesare targeted and subjected to violence, which is overtly justified. Thiscommunalisation did begin with the British introduced communal historiography,has a long journey and now any incident or tragedy is given a communal turnwith ease as the communal forces are strong and they have built up a massiveformal and informal media network. We saw this in case of Corona pandemic, whena section of media and many communal functionaries blamed Tablighi Jamaat forbeing Corona spreaders, for preparing Corona bomb and for undertaking CoronaJihad.Back on the heels of this another tragedy whichstruck the nation has been given a communal turn. A 15 year old pregnantelephant Soumya, died in tragic circumstances on 27th May 2020 inPalakkad, Kerala. She had accidently eaten the fruit (Pine apple/Coconut?)filled with crackers. Her mouth burnt as crackers exploded, her lower jaw wasdamaged and she lost her life. There are many dimensions of the issue. Firstlythe fruit was filled with crackers to scare off wild boars that damage thecrops and farms. Elephant was the accidental victim. Pouncing with ferocity theBJP MP and former Minster of Environment and Forests, Maneka Gandhi lashed outwith a tweet, full of inaccuracies and fully laced with communal biases, Sheattributed the event to have taken place in Malappuram, the Muslim majoritydistrict of Kerala and tweeted, “Mallapuram is known for its intense criminalactivity, specially with regard to animals. No action has ever been taken againstsingle poacher or wildlife killer so they keep doing it.”In her statement to ANI (https://sabrangindia.in/article/malappuram-not-wild-west-madam-maneka-gandhi-open-letter)she said Malappuram is the most disturbed district in the country. As per hereveryday something horrible is reported from the district. Not only all typesof animals are killed, people are also killed in communal incidents. Thathappens there almost every day. Her tweet and the statement together pictureMalappuram and Kerala in the most negative light but are totally based onfalsehoods.To begin with why she could notname Palakkad and named Malappuram? It is mostly due to the fact that Malappuramis a Muslim majority district. It was formed as a separate district in thesecond EMS Namboodripad ministry. The move was opposed by Bharatiya Janasangh,the previous avatar of BJP. So many districts have been formed in the countrysince then, not once BJP opposed that, but a Muslim majority district cannot beaccepted by this party. Maneka also went to criticize Kerala for poaching andabuse of elephants in the state. One will partly agree with her that as elephantsare put to use in religious functions and in other difficult tasks. But thepoint is; that is a phenomenon all over, more so in the neighboring Karnataka.One recalls Verappan and his smuggling of ivory. Even the religious use ofelephants is there in many other states as well. Here the ex-Minister is quietas Karnataka is currently being ruled by her party, while in Kerala with allthe efforts for decades her party is not able to get any electoral foothold,while its parent organization, RSS, has fairly strong roots in the state.Her statements about Malappuramare purely a concoction. The crime rate in this district is much lower than theworthy MPs own electoral constituency Sultanpur. As far as communal disturbanceis concerned, just a sample will do. When in the wake of Babri demolitionMumbai, Surat, Bhopal were burning and many places in North India wereexperiencing the pangs of violence, Malappuram did not witness any violence.As far as her statement thatthousands of women are killed there, lesser said the better. Kerala is onestate in the country, where sex ratio is the best. On the top of that amongMuslims the sex ratio is better as the practice of female feticide isnegligible, compared to the same among the Hindus.Backing up her tweet the current Environmentand Forest minister Javdekar added that, such incident, which has taken placein Malappuram are against Indian culture. The Minister with all information underhis command did not even know that incident took place in Palakkad and not Malappuram.But of course as biases rule the roost currently Mr. Javdekar also wanted totarget a Muslim majority district. Apart from the communal angle which has beeninstilled by these two worthies from BJP, the incidence has raised many andissues related to our treatment of animals.The hypocrisy of BJP and companyis very obvious. On one side it has unleashed the agenda of ‘Cow as Mother”,but at the same time the condition of cows in many a cowsheds in BJP ruledstates is abysmal. One recalls the incidence of Hingonia in Rajasthan whenduring BJP regime, hundreds of cows in this cowshed died due to starvation andillnesses (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/cows-died-of-malnourishment-sickness-at-hingonia-last-year/articleshow/57696871.cms).At a time when India is peaking in the incidents of lynching in the name ofcow, India is also coming to the forefront as the leading exporter of beef. Interestinglymany or most of the exporters are non Muslims!At the time of writing while themajor focus of ruling party is to practice divisive politics, the need is toformulate norms for use of animals, which are kind and compassionate.Incidentally when all this is being talked about in the society, oneappreciates the concern for the pregnant, would be mothers and the unbornchild, one is reminded of Gujarat where the pregnant mothers’ womb was piercedand the unborn child was hung on Trishul (Trident). Also one is deeplyconcerned about another would be mother, Safoora Zargar, an M Phil Student atJamia, who is behind the bars, denied bail for participating in the anti CAAprotests. Where is our compassion? Is it reserved only for elephants of Kerala?
