Express Focus -- KERALA -- by Indian Express

In Parassinikkadavu, a sleepy hamlet 16 kms off Kannur town in northern Kerala, people haven’t stopped counting the bodies. As on Thursday, the count shows 23 crocodile hatchlings, a monkey, a cobra, a white necked stork, one painted stork and a wood owl. Few animals, among them king cobras, a lion-tailed macacque, are still nursing their injuries. The only solace for a shocked public in Parassinikkadavu and in Kerala is that the killings in Kannur this time is restricted to animals. The BJP/RSS versus CPM killings had been given a break this week.

But did somebody check the political affiliations of the crocs, cobras and monkeys in the snake park? Hardly. Someone certainly did check the political lineage of the park before despatching a team of wildlife personnel led by North Zone Regional wildlife conservator Mehr Singh in the wee hours of December 10.
The park was established as part of a cooperative in 1980 by the then CPM district secretary M.V. Raghavan. He was later thrown out of the party but continued to head the cooperative. Something which the CPM could never reconcile with. The park flourished, a symbol of Raghavan’s political survival and for the party, an object of hatred.

The posse of 150 odd policemen who encircled the park at 4.30 in the morning had been told just one thing. Make sure that no one would hamper the wildlife personnel from locking up the park. They also had to help out the wildlife officials to pack up the snakes in sacks, tie up full grown crocodiles on to wooden logs. Some of the crocodile hatchlings were dumped into a gunny bag.
The hired hands showed little mercy while capturing the animals. The snakes were pulled out by their tail, the crocodiles tied to bamboo poles. They were all then packed tightly in gunny bags.

Raju, the lion-tailed macaque, which had suffered burns when the CPM cadre vandalised the park in 1993, created a scene before being overpowered with an injection. An unconscious Raju was bundled into a tiny wooden cage.

By late noon, as a stunned crowd watched in the company of television curfews and press cameras, the wooden boxes and sacks were loaded on to waiting trucks. The idea was to drive them to Wayanad and Palakkad districts and release the animals — many of them tamed and had lived only in cages — in the forests of Western Ghats.

The plan came unstruck as Mehr Singh, who in private circles claims to be a classmate of the CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet, could not get clearance from the Taliparamaba magistrate to transport the animals. On Wednesday, the division bench of the Kerala High Court gave an interim directive which said all the animals and reptiles be set free in the park. Their fate now hangs on the balance as the High Court is yet to give its final verdict.

When the gunny bags were opened on Tuesday morning to sent the crocodile hatchlings back into the swampy pit inside the park, 18 of them were already dead. One more died after it was released in the swampy pit. The new-born crocodile tried to breathe fresh air. But it failed. It breathed its last soon after it was set free.

One of the veterinary surgeons who conducted the postmortem of the dead animals and birds said they had suffocated to death as they could not bear the weight of grown-up crocodiles kept over them. ‘‘More deaths are possible as most of the crocodiles are unable to breathe properly owing the unscientific way in which they were packed in to a lorry,’’ he said.

The police officials had nothing to say about the mass murders.
When asked why they had packed the animals unscientifically, a visibly angry Mehr Singh said he was acting on the directions of Central Zoo Authority and had nothing to do with Kerala politics.

The delay in transportation of animals following legal proceedings by the Taliparamba court and the High Court’s intervention, however, turned out to be an unanticipated hurdle in the way of the release of the animals, reptiles and birds to their natural habitats, he said. Singh said the snake park was functioning without licence and hence the action.

Raghavan has said the move to seal off the park was politically motivated and violative of applicable laws. He has threatened to initiate legal proceedings against Singh and his team for causing the death of the animals.
The legalities apart, the park symbolises the recurring motif of politics in Kannur — revenge.

The story dates back to the 80s when Raghavan lorded over Kannur as the district chief of the CPM. Under him, the party roughshodded over its rivals. A string of institutions were set up as cooperatives in the district under Raghavan. And the party ensured that the cooperatives, irrespective of the changes in the party’s political fortunes, never went out of their hands.

Pappinisseri Vishachikitsa Society, headed by Raghavan, was no exception. The idea behind the society was to build a hospital which would cater to the needs of the region which had reported a few deaths caused by snake bites. The snake park was started as a sort of feeder agency for venom extraction and treatment. Over the years, other animals were added to the collection of snakes. Sources say not all of them were legally procured since small animals which strayed into human habitation were caught and handed over to the park by the local populace.
The cooperative also realised that the park could be used to generate some income as well. They say the money was used to run the Ummerkoya Memorial Ayurveda Hospital, a 30-bed clinic run by the same society.

Things went smoothly until, a minor quake rocked the CPM in Kannur. Raghavan, who had mooted a parallel political resolution in the party, was expelled in 1987. Unlike other expelled comrades, he refused to fade away. Even though he found few supporters from his stronghold, Raghavan managed to build his own party and successfully alligned with the Congress-led UDF.

In Kannur, this was heresy. It was an all-out war which turned for the worse when Raghavan joined the UDF ministry after the 1991 assembly elections. Overnight, he became not just a renegade but a class enemy who needed to be eliminated, at least politically. Backed by the official machinery, Raghavan was game for a fight. And he ensured that the cooperatives which were established by him in Kannur remained in his hands. In 1993, an allegedly rigged election ensured that Pappinisseri snake park cooperative went out of the CPM’s control, and into Raghavan’s hands.

Mayhem followed. Violent hordes of CPM cadre run amok in Pappinisseri. Raghavan’s house was burnt down. But worse was in store for the animals and reptiles in the park. The party’s day out in Pappinisseri ended with the destruction of the park. The horror of burnt king cobras, dead monkeys and macaques raised a public outcry against the CPM. Raghavan gained.To his credit, he succeded in rebuilding the park. But it was only when a complaint for compensation was filed that the authorities realised that the park had not procured the necessary sanctions from CZA and others. Applications, sources say, were sent. And it was this aspect, the present CPM-led LDF government seems to have zeroed in on to target Raghavan.

When the move to seize the animals and reptiles backfired, the response from the government was measured. Senior CPM leader who was holding the charge of chief minister, T.K. Ramakrishnan said the state government had nothing to do with the action. Ask the wildlife authorities was the government’s stand. Not many are convinced of the CPM’s innocence. Meanwhile, the opposition has found an issue to target the party.For the park, and its apolitical beings, life has changed. The court will now decide their fate, if they survive till then.