THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/THRISSUR: The controversy over the alleged disruption of this year’s Thrissur pooram continues to rage with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accusing the UDF and the Sangh Parivar of attempting to derive political mileage from the issue.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Suresh Gopi refuted allegation that he played a role in hampering the festivities and called for a CBI probe into the fiasco.
The accusation that the Opposition UDF was siding with the Sangh parivar to establish the festivities were disrupted was levelled in a press release issued by the chief minister’s office (CMO) on Monday. It came a day after the CPI , an LDF constituent, openly disagreed with the CM’s stance that there was very little disruption caused to the pooram.
Though it targets the UDF and the Sangh parivar, the CMO’s release is widely seen as an oblique retort to CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam, who disagreed with Pinarayi’s earlier statement that except for the slight delay in the fireworks display, there was not much disruption to the festivities. The CPI had alleged an RSS conspiracy behind the disruption and demanded a probe into it.
“The government has always stuck to the stance that the pooram was not disrupted, but that there were attempts to disrupt it. This was clarified in the cabinet meeting that ordered a probe and also in the assembly,” the CMO release stated. It added that all aspects related to the pooram were being probed and officials will be brought to book if they are found to be involved in any wrongdoing.
The CMO asserted that the government was engaged in efforts to ensure that the pooram is conducted in a flawless manner in the coming years.
It said the Sangh parivar has always been interested in using Thrissur Pooram and other festivities for communal gains.
Suresh Gopi calls for CBI investigation
The CMO alleged that the Sangh Parivar has always been interested in using Thrissur Pooram and other festivities for communal gains. “Instead of exposing and preventing the Sangh Parivar designs, the Opposition is also trying to gain mileage by establishing that the pooram was disrupted,” the release said.
Calling UDF the ‘B Team’ of Sangh Parivar, the CMO said while the latter wanted to disrupt the pooram, the Opposition was interested in establishing that the festivities were disrupted.
Meanwhile, speaking at a campaign rally of BJP candidate K Balakrishnan at Chelakkara, Suresh Gopi warned the ruling LDF that the “Pooram fiasco would come as a boomerang for it”. “I didn’t go in an ambulance. Instead, I used the BJP district president’s car. To uncover the truth in the whole incident, an investigation led by Pinarayi Vijayan’s police will not be sufficient,” he said.
He said the CBI should be brought in to probe the issue. The actor-politician alleged that a former minister and even the present ministers of the state were scared to bring CBI in the case as they would also be questioned. “Let Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu say what they should. I went there (Thiruvambady’s committee office) to question the police act of attacking hundreds of spectators,” he said.
Suresh Gopi’s remarks came on a day when the Thrissur police filed a case on the alleged disruption of the festival. The case has been filed under charges of conspiracy, disrupting a religious festival and creating a rift between two groups.