Remember the minds of Keralites are being shaken
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The controversy of whether the disruption of the Thrissur Pooram was planned or it just happened so is heating up again. The remarks made by the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is in charge of the state Home Department, claiming that the Pooram was not disrupted and what occurred was only a slight delay in conducting the fireworks associated with it, has intensified the debate. Even as people including the opposition criticize that the Chief Minister has taken such a stand to appease the interested parties who are facing the allegation of making Pooram a mess, the CPI the second largest party in the government, and the organisers of the Pooram, the Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi Devawsoms also point out that the Chief Minister's position is not correct and that the Pooram was deliberately disrupted and there was a conspiracy. What the Chief Minister said at a public event last day is different from what he said about Pooram in the press conference held to explain the decisions of the Cabinet meeting. It was said in the press conference that the state police chief himself has been tasked to investigate and take action in detail in the investigation report that there was an attempt to disrupt the Pooram and to investigate if there was any lapse on the part of the officials in charge of managing Pooram and to submit a detailed report to the ADGP on the report if there was a lapse.
The Chief Minister himself has raised the argument that Pooram was not disrupted even as these investigations are being conducted. Regardless of the Chief Minister's disclosure, the Thrissur East Police has registered a case on the complaint filed by an officer of the police team appointed by the Home Department to investigate. The FIR contains serious charges of conspiracy, disrupting a religious festival and creating a rift between two groups. In the meantime, with the Chief Minister himself taking a different stand, doubts have arisen about the course of the investigation. Thrissur Pooram is one of the biggest cultural events in the state. Devawsom and various interested parties had voiced concerns about the police intervention after last year's Pooram disruption and stated that the actions of some of the officers were questionable. The government announced an inquiry. The Aditional Director General of Police (ADGP), who was in charge of law and order during the Pooram, was put in charge of the investigation. The report, which was not submitted even after five months, was submitted in a controversial context surrounding the meetings between the officer and the RSS chiefs. The RTI request on the report submitted by the former Kerala minister and CPI leader V.S. Sunil Kumar, who is described as a scapegoat in the Pooram disruption, and who was defeated in Thrissur, was rejected. However, this report was later tabled in the Legislative Assembly. A section of ministers were also of the opinion that Pooram was disrupted. The CM's position is also a setback for them.
Keralites have the right to know what actually happened during the Thrissur Pooram, no matter what position one takes. Many questions are still in the air like why the police put obstructions from the beginning, why they did not intervene when there were problems, whether there was an intervention by those with pro-Sangh Parivar stances and who facilitated the BJP candidate to make use of the ambulance that was supposed to be used to transport patients and to take advantage at the scene. Even after six months, they have not been answered. Even in the discussion about this, the government tried to downplay it with a puerile answer that there was no evidence to 'to charge or acquit’. What the government should do now is to find the correct answers to all these questions through any kind of investigation and not create a smokescreen. Above all, the fact that a few people think they can subvert anything is extremely worrying. It is a threat to secular Kerala. The trend of making any issue as controversial as possible thereby polluting the social environment itself is a phenomenon seen from the beginning of this government. This has been in display in incidents from K-Rail to Pooram, ADGP controversy and the death of ADM. When asked why and for whom, those who made matters so vitiated do not seem to have an answer. We can only hope that those concerned will at least realize that this approach is not good for the state or the people.
