Kerala government misleads people on Thrissur Pooram disruption: RTI reveals no investigation conducted

THRISSUR: No investigation has been carried out in connection with the disruption of the centuries-old, legendary Thrissur Pooam festival in April 2024. It is revealed in a Right To Information (RTI) document. The response was from Police Head Quarters, Thiruvananthapuram. Thrissur City Police said the same too while communicating to the media. It causes suspicion that Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan, CPI, the second largest constituent in the ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), and other LDF partners have been misguiding the people by claiming that an investigation was in progress. The chief minister had neutralised the public anger by announcing an inquiry immediately after Thrissur Pooram festival underwent disruption. Chief minister’s press release, of April 21, stated that the State Police Chief (SPC) would investigate the complaints against police actions and report in a week. CPI leaders have been demanding the release of the report since the last few months. RTI application filed contained two enquiries: ‘(1) Was there an investigation into the Pooram disruption ? (2) If positive, can a copy of the report be provided ?’ The response was interesting: ‘No such investigation details are available at this office. For accurate information, the query has been forwarded to Thrissur City Police Office’. In another words, police headquarters was unaware of the investigation which was reportedly assigned to the DGP by the Chief Minister. Thrissur Police confirmed that no investigation had been carried out and obviously no report had been submitted. As a result, the lapse or wrongdoings on the part of police have not been unearthed. In short, despite the press release of the chief minister, no investigation had been carried out. Reports suggest that M.R. Ajitkumar IPS, Additional Inspector General of Office, was assigned to carry out the enquiry. Thrissur Pooram of April, 2024 underwent abrupt disruption first time in its centuries old tradition and history. Fireworks display, thousands of people from all over the state and even abroad was eagerly awaiting was delayed for over three hours. Mahouts were stopped, by force, from feeding the elephants. Parliament polls were round the corner when the unwanted restrictions were imposed. After a full day of colourful scenes, Thrisssur Pooram suffered a humiliating setback during the wee hours of April 20. Police used excessive force to mess up the centuries old traditions of Pooram rituals. Police did not keep the boots off when they entered the nalambalam of temple area around the shrine. This area, round in shape, is the place where barefooted devotees perform circumambulation after the worship in front of the shrine. Even devotees who are not able to enter the area surrounding the shrine, due to some ritualistic reasons, content with the circumambulation in nalambalam. But, the police entered the area wearing the boots. It is a blatant violation of temple tradition and High Court order. Not only that the entire world famous Thrissur Pooram, mother of all temple festivals in Kerala, was messed up. Night festivities were halted. The beauty of the fireworks which takes place by 3am was pushed to 7.30am so that the visual beauty was totally killed. Lakhs of people were disappointed and frustrated for missing unparalleled colourful scenes of the fireworks in the sky. As somebody sarcastically commented, they had to content with the thunder-like sounds. BJP alleged conspiracy behind police highhandedness in the Pooram ground and the lathicharge occurred in the night. BJP leader B. Gopalakrishnan had alleged that when the issue took place, neither Dewaswom Minister nor the Revenue Minister was in the vicinity; MLA and MP (LS) of Thrissur supported the organisers of the Pooram. All nationalist and Hindu organisations had alleged that the actions of the Government and the Police to disrupt the Pooram had hurt the religious feelings of Hindus. Meanwhile, a police officer in Kerala has been suspended on Friday on charges of giving incorrect information to the RTI query.