Thrissur: A clash erupted between BJP-Yuva Morcha and Youth Congress-KSU activists at Thekkinkadu Maidan here on Thursday after the latter attempted to sprinkle cow dung water at the venue where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a huge gathering on Wednesday.
Youth Congress organised a protest at the Thekkinkadu Maidan to protest against the Prime Minister a day after the massive women's conference in Thrissur.
At first, the BJP-Yuva Morcha workers tried to stop the Youth Congress protest which turned into a verbal spat between the two parties and later into a street fight. The Thrissur City police tried to block the two parties. However, the situation turned worse when the BJP activists led by the party district president KK Aneesh Kumar started attacking Congressmen with long poles that were used to erect the stage and stones. Following the same, police had to resort to lathicharge. Later the police cleared the venue by arresting the protesters. One BJP worker was injured in the incident.
Youth Congress protest
The Youth Congress organised a programme titled “Ma Nishada” at the same venue of the PM's event to mark their protest against the destruction of several trees, including a decades-old banyan tree situated in the Sree Vadakkumnathan Temple grounds on Thursday morning. They also informed the media about the plans to sprinkle cow dung water during the programme. This protest ended up in the violence and arrest of several party men.
BJP challenges T N Prathapan
BJP district president Adv K K Aneesh alleged that Congress MP T N Prathapan and police official Alavi conspired to hold the protest.
“We won't let anyone trespass into our venue. We obtained permission to conduct the programme here. If any Youth Congress worker dared to sprinkle water laced with cow dung on BJP's venue, Prathapan would face its consequences. We will spray cow dung water all over,” declared Aneesh.
Meanwhile, Youth Congress district president Gokul Guruvayur said the outfit would conclude their protest after spraying cow dung water at the venue. He claimed activists wanted to express their protest against the PM for attempting to divide India. He also questioned the PM's stance on issues of the minorities in Manipur and Lakshadweep.
As the clash continued, BJP workers pelted stones at the Youth Congress activists when they poured cow dung water at the venue of the PM's programme. (Spraying cow dung-laced water is intended to purify a place impured by a person or an act.)
Thekkinkadu maidan, which is at the heart of Thrissur town, saw activists of Youth Congress and BJP engaged in street fights before police intervened.
BJP state president K Suredran is set to meet the media on Thursday afternoon and is expected to respond to the incident.
Thrissur witnessed tens of thousands of women participating in the conference making it one of the largest crowded political events ever organised in the city. In the mammoth event, Modi apart from his government’s developmental activities in the past 10 years, had also shared his views on the politicking over Thrissur Pooram, mismanagement at Sabarimala hill shrine, triple talaq and gold smuggling support by minorities to the BJP governments in the Northeastern states.
