New Delhi: With the Nilambur bye-polls just around the corner, the death of a 15-year-old from an illegal animal trap in the district has sparked controversy with Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday accusing the Kerala government of being negligent.
“Yesterday, a 15-year-old boy Ananthu was killed because he came into contact with a highly illegal electrified fence. As our minister, George Kurian said, he met the family, and he said that Ananthu is a martyr for the people of that region. It is clear that he is the victim of state government negligence, state government is covering up the incident that it’s central government responsibility which is a lie,” the BJP’s Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.
He accused the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government of being negligent against a particular community, as he added, “Maybe they feel that in Nilambur this particular community has never voted for them, and that is why I would charge them with deliberate negligence against a particular community.”
He also said that the Union Environment Minister has made it clear that the state government has enough powers to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts, without any interference from the Centre.
“Bhupender Yadav (Union Environment Minister) has made it absolutely clear that the state government had all the powers, and not only had it but used the power in the past in other municipalities and gram panchayats to kill wildlife and wild pigs who are causing harm to agriculture,” Chandrasekhar said.
On the Kerala government claiming that there have been restrictions put on the state government, he added, “it is a lie, a total falsehood, perpetuated by a government that has been bought, I have pictures of other incidents where they have used to powers to kill wild boars.”
Earlier on Sunday, Union Minister George Kurian said “A 15-year-old boy was killed by this illegal trap fixed by some people. The state government has failed to control this and is not taking any action. They keep blaming and say some laws should be amended. Kerala has totally failed to protect people living near forests. We are demanding a strong action.”
Nilambur bye-polls are set to happen on June 19, with counting on June 29.
The elections were necessitated after the resignation of PV Anvar, an LDF-backed MLA, who stepped down in January after making several allegations against the Left government in the state. However, Anvar is going to contest the elections under the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) banner.
Anvar will be going up against National Democratic Alliance candidate Michael George.
The byelection has political significance as it is a precursor to next year’s state assembly election and will test the popularity of the current government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.