In a shocking incident, a group of Youth Congress workers from Kerala’s Thrissur district ‘purified’ a venue by sprinkling cow dung-mixed water after a Dalit MLA had staged a sit-in protest.
Kerala: Youth Congress workers, in Thrissur district, allegedly sprinkled cow dung-mixed water in front of PWD office at Cherpu village where CPI MLA Geetha Gopi, a Dalit, had staged a sit-in protest against the delay in repairing the Cherpu- Thriprayar- Guruvayur road. (27.07) pic.twitter.com/pEENOmq2K2
— ANI (@ANI) July 29, 2019
According to the reports, the incident occurred on Saturday when CPI’s Dalit MLA from Nattika constituency, Geetha Gopi was protesting in front of the Public Works Department (PWD) office over the poor condition of the Thriprayar to Cherpu road. She had ended her protests after she got the assurance from the Public Works Department (PWD) officials regarding the maintenance work.
After the Dalit MLA left the spot, a group of Youth Congress workers reportedly reached the protest venue and allegedly sprinkled cow dung-mixed water to ‘purify the spot’.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPMnGbadH5Y?start=11]
CPI MLA Geetha Gopi has filed a complaint with Cherpu police against caste discrimination by the Congress workers. She also said that said she will file a complaint with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala Assembly speaker P Sreeramakrishnan. The CPI leader alleged that Cherpu Gram Panchayat president was involved in this casteist incident.
“The Congress workers should’ve resorted to many other democratic ways of protest, they sprinkled the cow dung mix water on the protest site only to harass a Dalit woman lawmaker,” Geetha Gopi said.
Kerala Cultural Minister AK Balan lashed out at the Youth Congress activists and alleged such so-called purification ceremony was usually seen in north India. “Such acts are normally seen in north India. It cannot be accepted,” he said.
Health Minister KK Shylaja also condemned the incident and said the act against the MLA showed the ‘political culture’ of the protesters. “It’s criminal and highly condemnable that the Congress workers poured cow dung-mixed waters at a place where a protest was held democratically,” Shailaja said.
