CPI seeks Suresh Gopi’s prosecution for “misusing” ambulance for private transport to dodge police restrictions on Thrissur Pooram Day
The Hindu
CPI petitions police to prosecute Union Minister Suresh Gopi for using ambulance to reach festival grounds.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Saturday (September 28, 2024) petitioned the Thrissur Police Commissioner to prosecute the Union Minister of State for Tourism and veteran Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi, MP, for allegedly using a private ambulance to dodge law enforcement restrictions and reach the festival grounds on Thrissur Pooram Day.
In his petition, CPI Thrissur mandala secretary Sumesh K.P. alleged Mr. Gopi’s use of an ambulance operated by Seva Bharathi, a non-profit organisation under the aegis of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to arrive at the Thiruvambadi Devaswom’s office in the festival area violated Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) rules.
Mr. Sumesh also submitted a mobile phone capture showing Mr. Gopi stepping out of an ambulance inside the ‘restricted‘ festival area.
The petition came against the backdrop of across-the-political-aisle accusations of the police disrupting Pooram to stoke Hindu resentment that arguably aided Mr Gopi’s emphatic win in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency.
Mr Gopi’s electoral rival and CPI leader, V.S. Sunil Kumar, had accused the police of restricting Revenue Minister K. Rajan from entering the festival area while waving the ambulance ferrying Mr.Gopi through.
Political leaders had rushed to the Pooram grounds after the festival stopped following a police-Devaswom-public stand-off over “unreasonable pedestrian traffic restrictions and traditional fireworks”.
The CPI said the police had accorded Mr Gopi the image of a leader intent on salvaging the Pooram by allowing him inside the Devasom office in what appeared to be a made-for-television event.
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