In the Assembly on Thursday, it looked like the Opposition was determined to whip up fury in the high ranges, particularly in Idukki, against the UDF government. As it turned out, it was the LDF that was left fumbling for answers.

The weapon the LDF had to go for the kill was the September 23 order issued by Idukki district collector Dinesan Cheruvatt to remove illegal constructions along the path of wild elephants at Chinnakanal. CPM's Konni MLA U Janeesh Kumar, who moved the adjournment motion on the issue, was aggressive and irreverent.

He said the Forest Department was using the order to remove all the obstacles in the way of the elephants, and making it easy for them to raid human settlements. "What is the Forest Department's role here, anyway? Chinnakanal does not have even a single elephant corridor," Janeesh said.

He said a second order was issued on September 28 prohibiting locals from wandering around between 6 pm and 6 am. "When it was found that this had caused severe distress to the people, a third order was issued on October 1, limiting the restrictions to just hotspots. And all major towns like Chinnakanal, Suryanelli and Mathikettan were declared hotspots," Janeesh said. "What right has the Forest Department to declare hotspots?" the CPM MLA said. He said that travel was prohibited even along the highway.

Janeesh was withering in his criticism of forest minister Shibu Baby John, particularly of a recent policy he had unveiled to harvest jackfruit along the forest fringes before it ripens. The policy was prompted by the understanding that elephants are lured to human settlements by ripe jackfruits.

"The minister has now declared a jackfruit policy to keep elephants away. Porcupines are destroying the colocasias (chembu) of farmers. Why not declare a colocasia policy? The monkeys are taking away all the coconuts. Why not declare a coconut policy? The rats are burrowing away all the tapiocas. Why not declare a tapioca policy?" Janeesh said.

The minister did not waste any time. "There are certain things that I had realised after taking charge," Shibu Baby John said right after he was serenaded with Janeesh's sarcasm. "There is a certain people's representative from Pathanamthitta district who, when asked about the Parivesh Portal (an online, single-window integrated system launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change), said it was run by a Hindi chap named Parivesh and that he said was the root cause of all the problems. It is better to reason with elephants and donkeys and monkeys than with such people," the minister said.

Shibu just made an oblique reference; it could have been any MLA or MP from Pathanamthitta district. But Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan stood up and objected to the minister's remarks against "Janeesh".

The minister said that the order to remove illegal constructions along the path of elephants was issued after three people were killed in Chinnakanal alone in a month. "We had to issue the order after the locals refused to bury the body of Vijayan (a tribal who was stomped to death by a wild elephant) until the fences were removed," Shibu said. "The panchayat is ruled by the CPM, and the panchayat president was the first to make such a demand," the minister said.

He agreed that there was no declared elephant corridor in Chinnakanal. "But in this area, 30,000-odd people coexist with 18 elephants. There might not be a declared corridor, but there should still be a path for these elephants to move," he said.

The minister said that after the path had been cleared, one of the tuskers, a rogue named Chakkakomban, had already left towards the Mathikettan forests. He also assured the Assembly that only illegal structures would be removed. He also conceded that initially even legal structures had been dismantled.

Further, Shibu said that in 2007, when LDF was in power, a committee of then ministers A K Balan, K P Rajendran and Binoy Viswam had recommended that Chinnakanal be converted into an elephant reserve. "Weren't people living in Chinnakanal when this recommendation was made?" he wanted to know.

One of the minister's posers was designed to embarrass Pinarayi. He said that two major resorts at Chinnakanal now stand in the way of elephant movements. The High Court had in 2022 ruled that these structures could be removed. "The former Chief Minister is supposed to be a no-nonsense leader, strong and double-hearted. You had three years to take action against Mahindra's resort. You didn't. Did your hand shiver when it came to demolishing a Mahindra resort?" Shibu said.

Pinarayi did not respond to this. And his walkout speech was mild, just wanted the government to adhere to norms; it did not have Janeesh's reckless aggression.