Political fight erupts over Kerala House beef row

Chandy accused Delhi Police of carrying out 'searches' at New Delhi's Kerala House over an allegation of beef being served there

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has condemned Delhi police entering Kerala House on Monday upon a complaint that beef was being served at the canteen. Chandy has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming the episode “highly objectionable”.  Accusing Delhi police of exceeding their brief, he asked Modi to take strong action.

Chandy was backed by his Delhi counterpart, Arvind Kejriwal, who termed the police raid “an attack on the federal structure”. Deploring the incident, Kejriwal wondered if a chief minister would be arrested from a state guest house if he was suspected of eating something that BJP does not like. “Delhi police is acting like a BJP sena,” he said.

Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi rejected Kejriwal’s contention, saying: “It was not a raid. It was a preventive measure as per our standard operating procedure. We had alerted their private security staff as soon as we got a call, to prevent any protest,” Bassi told reporters here.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) justified the police action, saying all it did was investigate the matter after a complaint was received and that the police were well within their right to do so. Accusing Chandy of ‘politicising’ the issue, BJP said serving beef in restaurants in Delhi is illegal.

Kerala House dismissed the allegation that cow meat was served on its premises. It said only buffalo meat was offered, which too was taken off the menu following the incident. It has lodged a police complaint over entry of activists without permission on Monday.

“Kerala House is not a private hotel or an institution run for making profit. It is an official guest house of the Kerala government. They (police) should have shown some restraint before carrying out searches,” said Chandy.

Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the incident amounted to an infringement on the powers of the state. “The Kerala government would soon send a letter to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi expressing the state’s strong protest over the issue,” he added.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said: “An unwise and unhealthy attempt to curb fundamental rights of people.”

Congress leader Tom Vadakkan, who is from Kerala, accused Delhi Police of indulging in “moral policing”.

On Monday evening, Delhi Police personnel rushed to Kerala House after a call was made to the police control room complaining that beef was being served at Kerala House’s canteen.