Thrissur: Three days after BJP MP Suresh Gopi confirms that he had arranged at the Thrissur Pooram venue during April 20, 2024 in an ambulance, the Kerala police has registered a case against the union minister. The actor-turned-politician faces charges under the IPC and the Motor Vehicles Act for reckless driving, violating traffic restrictions imposed by the police, breaching one-way limits on Swaraj ground, and using a vehicle designated for patient transport. The charges were slapped under IPC 279, 34 and Motor Vehicle Act 179, 184, 188, 192.
Union Minister Suresh Gopi while acknowledging that he used the ambulance to reach the Pooram venue due to health issues, slammed the LDF government to portray him as an ‘opportunist’ who tried to disrupt the Thrissur Pooram.
“I struggled to walk through the crowd due to leg pain, so some young people without any political agenda helped me into the ambulance,” he explained.
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Ever since the Lokasbha polls, the CPM and the CPI leaders have been alleging that there was a conspiracy that was hatched by the Sangh Parivar and senior BJP leaders to disrupt the famed Thrissur pooram and thereby put the entire blame on the CPI(M) and the LDF government and thus ensure the victory of the BJP candidate.
However, taking everyone by surprise, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently stated that the festival and its rituals proceeded without disruption, while Congress and the CPI, a Left ally, alleged that the disruptions were staged to evoke Hindu sentiment in favour of the BJP’s Thrissur Lok Sabha campaign.
During the initial investigation conducted in the matter it was found that few senior police officials tried to intervene in the Pooram festivities and tried to stop it. Former ADGP Ajith Kumar who was in-charge of the law and order was also under the scanner of investigation.
The controversy began with police interventions in Pooram rituals this April. For the first time in its history, the fireworks display—a major attraction traditionally held in the early morning—was postponed to broad daylight the following day, disappointing festival enthusiasts.
Meanwhile, both Suresh Gopi and the BJP leaders have denied any involvement in disrupting the Thrissur Pooram for a short period of time and thus disappointing the festival enthusiasts across Thrissur and the world.
