State govt sharpens its claws against Delhi Police after cow meat complaint

trivandrum — A political row erupted in Kerala on Tuesday over the entry of Delhi Police into the state-run Kerala House in the national capital following a complaint that it served beef to the guests there.

The complaint was made by a member of the right-wing Hindu Sena who said the guest house in its canteen, Samriddhi, near Jantar Mantar, was serving “beef curry”. The Delhi police maintained that they had entered the Kerala House not for any search but to avert any “untoward incident” after the call complaining about beef on the menu was received by police control room at around 4.15pm on Monday.

“We dealt with the matter with necessary alertness and took our position. The objective was to ensure that law and order is not disrupted,” said New Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Jatin Narwal. Kerala Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson has categorically denied that cow meat was served at Kerala House canteen.

He said they will wait for “police action” in the wake of their complaint over the incident. “I totally deny that cow meat was served in the canteen of Kerala House. Only buffalo meat was served,” Thomson said. However, the Kerala House has temporarily taken buffalo meat off its menu in the light of the controversy.

The incident has evoked strong protests from political parties and socio-cultural outfits. While Members of Parliament from the state staged a protest outside the Kerala House, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has written a strong letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemning the search.

Chandy said some people were unnecessarily creating a row over the beef ban and that his government would take up the issue of Delhi Police’s action with the federal government.“Kerala House is not a private hotel or an institution run for making profit. It is an official guest

Kerala House is not a private hotel. It is an official guest house of the state government. The police action was really unfortunate.

house of the state government. The police action was really unfortunate. They should have shown some restraint before carrying out searches,” Chandy said.

“Kerala House is where all the ministers and government officials stay. Delhi Police should not have entered the premises. The raids were wrong. This is not a commercial establishment,” he added.

Chandy was backed by his West Bengal counterpart Mamta Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Both the leaders have described the police search in the government facility as an attack on the federal structure.

Leaders of all opposition parties in the state have also come down heavily against the Delhi Police and criticised the chief minister being soft on the incident. Former party state secretary and politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan said that it was part of the soft Hinduvta being pursued by the Congress in Kerala.

Saying the search of the Kerala House by the Delhi police as an insult to the state and its people, he has urged the chief minister to rush to Delhi and register strong protests with the prime minister. Party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has also flayed Chandy for not responding strongly against the incident.

The BJP has justified the police action, saying it was only making inquiries following a complaint and was well within its right under the law of the land. Accusing Chandy of “politicising” the issue, the BJP said serving of beef in restaurants in Delhi was illegal. —