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BJP attempts to corner Cong in Wayanad over man-animal conflicts
The BJP’s state unit has accused Rahul Gandhi of not responding to the challenge despite being the representative from Wayanad
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken the fight to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency in Kerala’s Wayanad by intensifying its campaign to highlight recent incidents of human-wildlife conflict that resulted in casualties.
Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav has called for a meeting to review the situation and announced that he will be in Wayanad to find a solution. “We remain committed to do everything it takes to protect human lives and maintain ecological balance,” he said on Tuesday.
Yadav’s visit comes days after Gandhi, who is on a Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, was in Wayanad to meet the kin of a forest department watcher who was trampled to death by a wild elephant.
The BJP’s state unit has taken up the issue of wild animals frequently intruding into farms, destroying crops and causing loss to life and property. The party has accused Gandhi of not responding to the challenge despite being the representative from Wayanad.
On Sunday, after Gandhi’s visit, V Muraleedharan, junior minister for parliamentary affairs at the Centre, took potshots at Gandhi and dubbed him as a “tourist in his own constituency.”
“He goes there once in 5-6 months. He should take care of the issues of the constituency that has been facing man-animal conflict for more than a week. Rahul Gandhi did not find time to visit till now,” Muraleedharan said. “The reason for the death of a forest watchman was that he did not get the required medical assistance. Wayanad does not have a medical college where such people can be treated.”
Stepping up the attack on Gandhi, Nirmal Kumar Surana, vice-president of BJP’s Karnataka unit, alleged that the Karnataka government has been asked to pay compensation to the family of a victim killed by a rampaging elephant.
“An elephant killed a man in Wayanad, Kerala. Karnataka govt is giving compensation as per advice of Rahul Gandhi,” Surana said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Why people of Karnataka is paying for promises made by Wayanad’s MP?”
Surana also posted a letter on the platform written by Karnataka environment and forest minister Eshwar B Khandre to Gandhi about the compensation of ₹15 lakh to be paid to the family of Ajeesh, who was trampled to death by an elephant in Wayanad.
In the letter, Khandre had said the elephant that caused the death was relocated from Hassan to Karnataka’s Bandipur Tiger Reserve, but was sighted in Wayanad, where he attacked Ajeesh.
Gandhi is not the only opposition leader in the BJP’s crosshairs.
The party has been raising the issue for long and although the central government has issued guidelines to states on how to check instances of humans and crop being trampled, Kerala ruled by the opposition Left Democratic Front has been dragging its feet, a state BJP leader said, declining to be named.
In view of the casualties, the Union environment ministry has issued guidelines to states on managing human-wildlife conflicts, including damage to crops, junior environment minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey said in response to a question raised in Parliament in February.
“It includes promotion of crops in forest fringe areas which are unpalatable to wild animals, agro-forestry models which include cash crops like chillies, lemon grass, khus grass, etc., suitably mixed with tree/shrub species,” Choubey said. “It also includes preparation and implementation of comprehensive long-term plan for alternate cropping by the state agriculture and horticulture department under different schemes in vulnerable areas.”
