COIMBATORE: The Thudiyalur police on Thursday registered a case against Subramani, a BJP functionary, for allegedly threatening a couple to not sell beef in their pushcart eatery at Udaiyampalayam, a village on the outskirts of Coimbatore city.
Police ramped up security after hundreds of people staged a protest on Thursday evening condemning the police action. The protesters alleged that the eatery is located near a school and a temple.
As the issue threatened to snowball into a major controversy, with many people raising questions on food rights and religious beliefs, seven roadside eateries, including the pushcart of the couple, were evicted from the locality by the village committee allegedly based on orders issued by the village headman.
According to sources, Abitha and Ravi, who reside in Ambedkar Colony at Udaiyampalayam, recently opened a pushcart eatery near the SS Kulam middle school where several stalls serving non-vegetarian dishes were functioning.
On Thursday, the woman lodged a complaint at the Coimbatore city police commissioner office stating on December 25, Subramani threatened them to stop selling beef. “When we questioned him as to why we are being prevented from selling beef when others sell fish and chicken dishes at the same locality, he threatened us. Subramani and his supporters again threatened us on January 5,” Abitha said.
Meanwhile, a video purportedly showing Subramani asking the couple to stop selling beef as a temple is located nearby was circulated widely. In the video, Subramani is seen saying the decision to ‘prevent beef sale’ was taken by the entire village and CPM councillor V Ramamoorthy too was aware of it. After the police filed a case against Subramani on Thursday evening, around 200 villagers blocked the road leading to Maniyakaranpalayam condemning the police action.
“The couple opened the shop after informing me, but the location they said was different. They have shifted the shop near the Mariamman temple which is owned by residents of nearby villages. Initially, the couple said they will sell only chicken soup, but they later started selling beef. There is no rule against beef stalls, but it was opposed by right-wing supporters only because the shop is located near a temple,” Ramamoorthy said.
While CPM and CPI functionaries petitioned the police commissioner seeking his intervention to uphold people’s food rights, V Palanisamy, the village headman, petitioned Thudiyalur police seeking action against the couple for offending public sentiments.
TN BJP chief K Annamalai told reporters in the airport that only a portion of the video was released and they have sought a thorough probe.